Pull a Rabbit Out of my Cap
by Cammiebar
Summary: Alvin can be a horrible brother. But he will always be there to help out Simon and Theodore when they need him. And he's about to prove it. Multiple chapters, cartoon universe, lots of brotherly love. And a rabbit.
1. Chapter 1

**I have been taking a bit of a break between chapters of my other story and writing this. It's a different mood from the other one-definitely lighter. And I decided to start posting it, even though I want to finish off the other one first, because of the time of year. Easter is in five days and, even though it's not about Easter and I know that not everyone celebrates the holiday, I felt that it was a little fitting.**

**I don't own Alvin and the Chipmunks. I don't own the Chipettes. I just like writing stories about them.**

"_I thought you said that you would help me out!"_

_ "I never said that I would do it for you."_

_ "You know I'm not smart enough to do it. I'm gonna fail if you don't help!_

_ "That is really your problem, not mine."_

_ "Do you even know how to be a brother?"_

_ "Don't pull that on me. I know that card all too well."_

_ "You just like seeing me suffer."_

_ "I believe in learning from your own follies. You chose not to study and now you must reap what you sow."_

_ "But I don't even know how to sew!"_

_ He sighed._

_ "You just don't care. I knew it! You refuse to help me because you just don't want to. I don't understand you. I would help you!"_

_ "I would never need your help."_

_ "Fine! We're no longer brothers! I only have one brother now and that's Theodore!"_

_ A door slammed and Alvin stood in his room, huffing and full of anger, staring at the book he had to do a report on to pass his history class and immediately regretting what he said to Simon. _

A couple of hours had passed and the house was strangely quiet. Dave had left on a short business trip yesterday, leaving the boys at home alone. He never would have considered it when they were younger, but now that they were starting high school in the fall, he thought he'd give the boys a chance. Theodore was in the kitchen, looking through a recipe book while munching on a couple of cookies that Eleanor had given him. Alvin was upstairs in the bedroom, stretched out on his bed, listening to his iPod, and flipping through his phone. His report on Harry Houdini was still unfinished.

The fight was a normal occurrence for the two brothers. Usually, there was some effort on Simon's part to keep the peace, but he always ended up caving in and arguing with his hot-blooded older brother. Alvin would never admit it, but he thought that Simon was hilarious when he was mad and a couple of well-placed taunts was the perfect distraction from ennui for at least half an hour. But this time was a little more serious, and the possible guilt for disowning Simon was, maybe, starting to get to him, just a little bit. He had been restless for the past ten minutes, thinking about it.

Alvin sighed and took out his earphones. He needed to talk with Simon. They would always be brothers, through thick and thin, and even if Simon didn't want to help Alvin right now, that didn't mean that Simon wouldn't be there when Alvin definitely needed him. And it was the same for Alvin.

As a plus, if he made up with Simon now, then Alvin could probably guilt Simon into at least writing the outline for his paper on this Harry guy. Simon was a sucker for that type of stuff after a fight. And it was easier to make up with Simon by tricking him rather than to have a long, drawn-out, tear-jerking heart-to-heart with his little brother. Alvin nodded his head. That was what he was going to do.

"Hey Theodore," Alvin called as he bounded down the stairs and stopped into the kitchen. Theodore looked up and greeted Alvin with his trademarked smile. "Have you seen Simon?"

"Oh!" Theodore looked eager. "He's in the basement, I think. Are you going to make up with him?"

Alvin turned his way towards the basement. He should have known that Simon would have been down there. "Well, something like that," Alvin called back. He reached the door that lead to the basement, opened it, and pulled out his emotions. He had to look sorry for Simon to buy the making-up routine. He took a deep breath and walked down the stairs with steady but slow steps. He put on the most guilt-ridden face that he could contort himself into and readied himself with the appropriate tone of voice. "Simon?" He called out. Inwardly, he grinned. Nailed it.

But there was no answer. Alvin called out again, but still there was silence. Alvin glanced around, shifting his blue eyes from the lab table to the floor to a stool and then to the far corner of the room. With each object that he fixated his gaze on, his eyes grew wider and his mouth dropped lower. The table was a complete mess, with papers tossed about and interesting liquids pooling out of empty vials and test tubes. The floor also had an array of papers and broken glass. The stool had Simon's shirt on it and the base of the stool had the rest of Simon's clothes. Simon's glasses were nowhere to be found, but it appeared that a little piece of black plastic was by the stool.

The last place that Alvin looked was the far corner of the room. Something small and black was standing perfectly still. "Simon?" Alvin tepidly called out to it, moving slowly into the room and hearing the crunch of glass below his sneakers. The place was a mess. The tiny thing was rolled into a little ball, head down to the floor, eyes wide open, long ears flat on the back of his head and his little cotton tail hidden. Alvin had stumbled upon, what he was pretty sure, but was hoping to be mistaken, a rabbit.

Alvin knelt down carefully, watching where he placed his hands and looked at the scared little creature. It had black fur, long, floppy ears, and cute little whiskers. His eyes were pale blue and he just seemed to be staring back at Alvin. Slowly, carefully, gently, Alvin looked back over his shoulder and examined everything that he had seen.

Broken beakers and vials.

Papers all over the place.

Simon's clothes—not on him.

Spilled mystery liquids.

Probably a broken pair of glasses on the floor.

And a rabbit.

Alvin's eyes grew wide and he leaned down closer to the little black ball of fur. "S-s-simon?" Alvin asked quietly and fearfully. The rabbit gave a tiny jump and tore across the room as fast as his little legs would carry him. Alvin turned around quickly. "Simon!" Alvin chased after him. "Simon, come back! It's me, Alvin!" The rabbit raced under the table.

With skill that would have impressed the Dukes of Hazard, Alvin jumped and slid across the top of the table, landing on the other side and frightening off the rabbit into a different direction. He couldn't do anything but lunge after it, sliding on the floor in places due to the papers and praying that he would get ahold of his little-er, furrier, and now much more cuter brother. One particular slip caused Alvin to slide headlong towards the rabbit. It dodged over Alvin and Alvin continued until he hit the wall.

He sat up and held on to his head. It hurt. He had pulled a muscle in his leg from the running. He was out of breath. And there, sitting on the floor, right by the stool, looking as calm as calm could be, smelling his own clothes with his little black twitching nose—the rabbit was taunting Alvin. Simon, the stupid and, now, probably the smartest rabbit that was known to the entire world, was taunting Alvin. Alvin growled. The rabbit popped back into its little ball and remained still. This was the first time that Simon could beat Alvin in a game of tag, and, to Alvin, this game sucked. "It's on now, Nerd-o."

With an animalistic cry, Alvin pounced. The chase lasted another five minutes of loud screams, cursing, and crashes before Alvin shouted victoriously, the black rabbit held high in the air, staring with terrified wide eyes down at a grinning Alvin. "And the crowd goes wild!"

"Alvin?" Theodore asked quietly. Alvin dropped his arms and cradled Simon to his chest. "What are you doing down here?" Theodore looked at Alvin, then at the mess that was once Simon's lab.

Alvin looked around him, wincing as he saw each additional mess that he had made trying to catch Simon. He then looked at Theodore and held out the rabbit to him. "It's Simon!" Alvin blurted out.

Theodore looked very confused. He nodded his head, reassuring Alvin, and slowly backed up the steps. "Right," was all he said. Alvin was the left, holding a trembling rabbit in his arms, and realizing how this all must look. "Theodore, wait! I can explain," he shouted, dashing up the stairs with Simon in his arms.


	2. Chapter 2

**And this continues. I really don't know what to think about it. I think it's kind of funny. But I have weird humor.**

Alvin had dragged Theodore back into the lab with Simon cradled in his hands. Now, Alvin was standing at the table, Theodore sitting on the stool at the table, and both were watching Simon hop around the table, investigating everything and anything on it. Every once in a while, Simon would stop and be perfectly still.

"I don't understand," Theodore said glumly after Alvin had taken the time to erase his confusion and stop Theodore from almost cuddling Simon to death.

"What's there to not understand?" Alvin threw his arms up and then directed them at Simon. "Look around you. Papers are everywhere. There is broken glass. This little piece of black plastic, obviously from a pair of glasses. Spilled potions. Simon's clothes. And this," Alvin pointed at the rabbit who was now very close to Theodore. "And look at him. What does he look like?"

"Well, he's all black. He has pretty blue eyes. A cotton-y tail. Cute, long, floppy ears."

"He looks like Simon! What else can it be? Simon turned himself into a bunny."

Theodore had lost the smile that he had on his face by petting the cute little thing between the ears. He looked up at Alvin with strange eyes. "Simon doesn't have black hair," he slowly put in.

"Yea, but his hair is darker than ours! And look at that!" Alvin continued on in a frantic voice. "He even likes you better than me. That is definitely Simon."

"Alvin, Simon loves us both."

"Yea, no. We hate each other."

Theodore merely smiled and shook his head, purposefully running his finger along the length of the little creatures' ear. It was so soft. Alvin could see that Theodore really wasn't listening or even wanting to believe him. "Theo," Alvin breathed out. "Why won't you believe me?"

"It's just that," Theodore started slowly. He took a deep breath and looked Alvin in the eyes. "There is no way that Simon could have changed himself into a bunny rabbit. That kind of stuff doesn't happen. And," Theodore paused and looked down a little ashamed. "You always trick me."

There it was. Alvin could feel his world crashing down on him. Simon couldn't stand him because Alvin was never really sincere. And Theodore was feeling the same way. Both of his brothers didn't want to help him because he would always betray their trusts. It was karma. Alvin deserved this. He looked down at Simon.

Simon was chewing on a wooden spoon that was on the table. Simon seemed to look over at Alvin a few times before returning to his spoon. That nerd was having a grand old time and Alvin was starting to get a little upset with him. 'It's a test. He wants to see if I really would help him. Prepare yourself, you little rascal. You're about to get more help than you can handle,' Alvin thought. 'I can be a good big brother with my eyes closed!'

"Theodore, I'm sorry. I love you guys, and not just because you're my only brothers. You always make me happy, Theo, and yea, I like to scare you. But you're…cute…when you're scared. And you always come to me for comfort when you are really scared of something else. I'm just teasing. But Si," Alvin sighed at this. Opening up was really hard. "He is in big trouble. Dave will be home tomorrow and if Si is still like this, then we can't sing anymore and Dave will probably blame, well, me. I probably pushed Simon to be reckless down here with our fight. I know he hates fighting with me."

"But Simon couldn't have done it."

It was time for examples. "Theodore, Simon made a tonic that turned him into a heartthrob. He made a time machine. He can do anything! Do you really think that he couldn't accidentally turn himself into a bunny? I mean, he's done plenty to show that he's a genius."

That got Theodore thinking. Simon was always the one he would ask when he had trouble with school. He always got the best grades and won a lot of science fairs. He even beat an entire family of geniuses on national television _almost_ singlehandedly. And all the evidence was there to show that there was some sort of mishap or accident. And there was no sign of Simon anywhere, except for a rabbit that might vaguely resemble him. Theo tapped the table and called out Simon's name. The rabbit moved towards him.

"That proves it!" Alvin pointed. The rabbit gave a start at Alvin's voice and moved closer to Theodore. For some reason, Simon seemed to have started to take a better liking to Theodore than to Alvin as a rabbit. "He answers to his name, so he must be aware that he is a rabbit. Also, Simon would rather be around you than me," Alvin trailed off at the last bit. That made him feel a little, well, horrible.

"So what do we need to do?" Theodore asked, picking up Simon carefully. Simon began to wiggle a little, but Theodore just adjusted his hold. "It's okay, Simon. I got you."

"Easy. We need to figure out how to change him back!"

Theodore just looked at Alvin. Alvin had a grin on his face, as if he knew precisely what they needed to do and the entire thing was going to be easy. But glancing around the room, with papers everywhere, unknown chemicals, and two less-than-academically-inclined boys, the problem seemed overwhelming. But Alvin never lost his grin. "How?" Theodore asked cautiously, allowing a still wiggling Simon out of his arms and back on to the table.

Alvin tipped his cap down and his grin got wider. "Simon," he said, looking at the rabbit that had now relieved itself on a piece of paper. Alvin shied away in disgust. "That was nasty, little bro." Alvin cleared his throat and collected himself before looking down at the rabbit that just scratched his floppy ears. "Where are your notes on this experiment?"

The rabbit wiggled his nose and twitched his whiskers. Theodore leaned in. The boys waited anxiously. Nothing happened. Alvin cleared his throat again. And Simon just hopped himself around to face Theodore. Theodore's face fell and Alvin rolled his eyes, turning away from the table to look at the mess by his feet. This was going to be a little harder than he thought. Simon was being difficult. He was probably still made about the fight and Alvin's heart-warming speech did nothing to smooth it over.

"Alvin, he did something!"

Alvin whirled around. Theodore was holding up a piece of paper triumphantly, handing it over to Alvin. Alvin took it in a hurry and looked over it, but quickly realized that he didn't even want to bother to try and understand. He never knew what was written on these things. But the paper looked, for the most part for Simon's world, normal. "What did he do?"

"He bit it! There, on the corner!" Sure enough, there was a little bit missing. Alvin looked down at Simon expectantly. The little rabbit was now ignoring the other papers and just twitching the little black nose again. "He doesn't want the other papers. This one must be important!"

"Quick," Alvin said, shoving the paper in his pocket and then reaching for Simon. He put his hand under the soft belly and lifted him up, looking at him in the pale blue eyes. "Where are the other ones? I know you write essays for these things." Nose twitch. Eye blink. Stare. Alvin sighed and held the rabbit to his chest. He quickly looked around and then his eyes went wide.

Alvin knelt down and let Simon go. Simon began to hop this way and then that. "Theodore, every paper he chews on is important," Alvin ordered out. Theodore got down on his hands and knees and both boys followed the rabbit, trying to be careful about the glass on the floor. Whenever Simon stopped moving, Theodore would speak out some encouragement and that usually helped Simon remember where the rest of the notes were. Soon enough, the boys had a stack of papers in their hands.

And Theodore was getting hungry. Alvin handed all the papers to Theodore and he retrieved Simon in record time and with only a scratch on his cheek, holding him close and reassuring him, as the boys ascended the stairs, that they would get him back to normal soon. Theodore went to the kitchen to prepare lunch while Alvin was in the living room, watching Simon explore while shifting through all the papers. Some just looked like nonsense, and one looked like an English assignment. But if Simon said that they were important, then they were important.

Yet, Alvin probably would have had a better time reading Japanese than these things. They were all out of order, some barely readable due to some sort of spilled chemical on them, and others were just nonsense. This was giving Alvin a headache. And the entire time, Simon was happily applying himself with viewing his world from a completely new perspective. "I hate you," Alvin mumbled out, glaring at the little thing as it ran past him to explore under the couch.

"I got lunch!" Theodore called out. He brought in three plates with a sandwich on each. One plate he handed to Alvin, the other he set on the coffee table, and the third he put on the floor. Theodore looked around the room. "Where's Simon?"

"Under the couch," Alvin spit out, looking at the next page of gibberish. "Why do you have three plates?"

"Simon has to eat too."

Alvin put the papers down for a moment before looking at Theodore questioningly. "What do rabbits eat, anyway?"

Theodore shrugged, looking at the sandwich that he made. "I made him a tuna fish sandwich. He told me yesterday that the one I made was very good. I thought that making him another one would make him feel better. He must be very upset."

Simon popped his head out from under the couch and ran across the room to explore the piano bench. "Looks alright to me," Alvin muttered. He sighed. "Maybe we should find out how to take care of rabbits. I don't think that he'll eat tuna."

With a mouth full of his food, Theodore nodded in agreement and pulled out his smart phone. The boys, even Simon, liked having the ability to google anything they wanted with just their phones. They were ecstatic when Dave had got them all one for Christmas last year. After a few moments of Alvin just glaring at a happy rabbit rejecting tuna and almost giving up on looking at the papers for now, Theodore called out with a muffled voice. "Oh, they eat carrots and lettuce and tomatoes and some fruit and hay and rabbit food! But…we don't have rabbit food."

"Then get him some carrots."

"But this says that the rabbit food is really important. We don't want Simon to get mal-nur-ished," Theodore said the last word slowly, trying to pronounce it right.

Rolling his eyes and leaning forward, ignoring his own food, Alvin sighed. "He's only going to be a rabbit for a few hours. He's not going to get malnourished." Theodore just muttered a reply and went to get a carrot for Simon, taking the tuna fish sandwich with him to eat later. Alvin picked up the papers again and looked through them. He couldn't give up. Simon needed him.

The next page seemed to have a doodle. Alvin was about to ignore it and move on to the next page when he stopped. He never thought that Simon would doodle anything on his precious papers. But there it was, in black a white. It was a girl with her hair tied back, a small smile, big eyes…it was actually a really good picture. It was amazing that Mr. Science could draw as well as he could. Even the glasses framed her face so well. Alvin stopped.

Girl.

Glasses.

Shy smile.

Jeanette! Simon's partner in all things nerdy. The one who could actually converse with Simon and understand what he was talking about. The one who got just as good of grades as him. A chipette with big brains and an even bigger will to help out.

Ignoring the desire to laugh at Simon for even drawing a doodle of Jeanette and ignoring the want to tease him for considering the doodle to be important, Alvin had decided. He needed to go to the chipette's house, right now. Jeanette was the only one who would be able to help Simon and decipher this ancient text of formulas and blibbler-blabber.

Alvin got up, checking on Simon, who was now smelling the legs of a chair, and ran to the front door. He shouted to Theodore that he was going to the Miller's house next door and that Simon was in the living room. Alvin didn't wait for an answer. With a bound, he was outside with the door firmly shut behind him.

The Millers lived right next door to the Seville's. They were close friends and had a lot in common. The girls were also a famous group of singers, although not as popular as the boys. They were chipmunks, triplets, and were adopted by Ms. Miller, an elderly, but somewhat insane former-flapper of the 1920's. And this was where Jeanette would be, that is if Alvin could get past her sister's first.

Alvin didn't waste any time. He raised his fist and pounded on the door quickly, muttering out his hope that Jeanette was home and praying that she would be the one to come to the door. Alvin did have the state of mind to see if Ms. Miller's car was in the driveway and had gotten a little more panicky when he realized that it wasn't. He stopped his pounding and looked around at the windows before trying again.

The door quickly opened up and an annoyed pair of ice blue eyes were glaring back at him. She put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at her best friend, a little too annoyed to speak after Alvin's display of lack of manners. But Alvin, having just caught up with himself and his actions, settled down quickly and put on a charming smile.

"Hi Brittany!" he greeted. She flipped her pony tail over her shoulder and huffed.

"What do you want, Alvin?"

He had to do it. He just had to. There was no way he could stop himself. He had always been interested in girls, but he found that as he grew older, his interest, if possible, was increasing. And she was just so cute when she was mad. Most girls either bored him when they were angry or they just lost their charm, but she, Brittany Miller, was more charming angry than sweet most of the time. At least to Alvin.

So he took a moment to think and just look at her. It was literally only a millisecond, but it felt like an eternity. Her blue eyes sparkled even with her annoyance and they just got brighter whenever he would do something she approved of or disapproved of. The way that her hands rested on her hips, slightly clutching the light pink cotton and lace skirt. Her form fitting white tank top that, sadly, didn't plunge too low, that was covered by a little pink jacket. A little pearl necklace draped delicately around her neck. Her ears had pretty, little, dangly gold earrings that just brushed her shoulders, completely exposed by her long, auburn hair that was tied back in a high pony tail. She was just the vision of a lovely, intimidating, pink little challenge.

So, he just had to do it.

"I was wondering if it hurt."

Her face went blank, but she still retained her annoyed appearance. 'Oh, this is gonna be good,' Alvin smirked to himself. He waited for her to take the bait, smiling at her in anticipation. He could feel it in his bones that she was going to do it. Her eyes shifted. They would soften just a little bit before hardening again. She was arguing with herself about replying. He just knew Brittany all too well and, because of that, knew that she would always try to think the better of him, despite how well she knew him. "If what hurt?"

Bingo. Hook, line, and sinker.

"When you fell from the ugly tree."

Priceless. Simply priceless. Her face just became the sun that lit up an endlessly dark landscape of despair and doom. Again, it was only to him. To anyone else, they would have ran for the hills in fear of the reawakened dark lord, Cthulhu. But, rather than rampage and bring about a thousand years of darkness, Brittany just slammed the door in his smiling face.

Alvin felt satisfied and relaxed. Better than what he had been feeling before. In fact, he didn't even remember why he came over here to begin with, but he felt better and that was the most important thing. So, feeling a sense of calm, he turned to leave the step, humming to himself happily. Starting towards his house, he saw Theodore pop his head out of a window. "Alvin! Do you have Simon?"

'Simon? Why would I have…Simon! I forgot about him!' Alvin stopped moving, finally remembering his task. "No, I don't. He's in the living room."

Theodore's face fell. "I just read that they can die if they get lonely."


	3. Chapter 3

**Definitely shorter than the chapters for my other story. I'm surprised. But then again, stories seem to write themselves with me. And they will be as long as I need them to be.**

Doom. The joy that had entered his heart from making Brittany annoyed was replaced by bitter, horrible doom. "Well, go find him! Keep him with you at all times!" Alvin yelled back frantically, turning around to face the Miller house again. He gulped. He needed Jeanette to help him solve the mystery that was Simon's notes. But it was going to be even harder now. He made Brittany mad. And she wasn't going to be too happy about seeing him again so soon.

One foot in front of the other. That's what he did. He marched straight back up to the door and took a deep breath before knocking politely on it. He waited a few more moments before knocking again. The curtains moved in the window and Alvin turned to look. Brittany scowled at him and moved away, letting the curtains fall back into place. Alvin knocked a few more times. But the door didn't open.

He let his head fall and he began to think. He would call Jeanette himself if he had her number. But he didn't. He wasn't even sure if she had a cellphone or not. So he took out his phone and dialed the Miller house phone. It rang.

"Hello?" Brittany's chipper voice answered. Alvin grinned.

"Brittany! Listen, I need to know…"

"Go get hit by a car, Alvin. And get off my porch!" Then, dial tone. Brittany hung up the phone. Alvin just sighed and tried again. It took a few more rings, then the phone was picked up again.

"Don't hang up, we're in real trouble," Alvin started quickly.

Dial tone. She must have not even put the phone to her ear. Oh, any day he would have just merrily gone on his way to enjoy life. But he honestly regretted saying what he did to Brittany. She was going to make this a living hell for him, for certain.

But Alvin Seville doesn't give up. He set his face into one of determination and looked around at the house. He backed up from the door and his eyes caught the shape of a fine elm that lead straight up to the girl's room. He smirked. He would get Jeanette's attention if she was there. Or at least show that he was desperate enough to may garner some sympathy so that the girls could hear his plight.

He moved over there. He scanned the branches to find out the best way to climb it before pulling himself up, one branch at a time. Alvin had to hurry. It might take a while to get the antidote ready and he needed Simon back the way he was as soon as possible. Especially since rabbits can apparently die if they get lonely. As he reached for another branch, Alvin prayed that Theodore had found Simon and was keeping him company.

The window was in sight and it was open! Alvin grinned and as huffed up to another branch. His luck was starting to turn around, for the first time that day. All he had to do now was get into the house, find Jeanette, make her come to his house, make an antidote, and change Simon back to normal. This was going to be a piece of cake. He couldn't stop himself from applauding his own genius.

"Go home, Alvin!" Brittany snapped. Alvin jerked out of his reverie and looked as Brittany slammed the window shut angrily, locked it, and walked away.

"Brittany! Wait! Where's Jeanette? I need to see Jeanette. It's urgent, Brittany. Brittany!"

She didn't return to the window. Alvin knocked his head against the tree in annoyance and frustration. Why did he have to do that to Brittany when he needed something? He couldn't have waited until later to do it? Nope, there was something about that bewitching woman that made him have to make her angry constantly. And here was his punishment.

He shimmied down the tree and brushed himself off. His forehead was a little sore. He reached up and touched it. He groaned. He scraped his head against the tree bark when he was beating himself with it. And sap had made his hands and clothes all sticky. Maybe his luck wasn't changing around. He sighed, gave one last look at the house, before going back to his own. He'd try again a little later after Brittany cooled down a bit.

He opened the door and looked around. Theodore was on the couch, giggling as he watched Simon munch on some lettuce. The scene was just so cute it was sickening. But once the door was shut, Theodore looked over at Alvin happily. "They're right. He loves lettuce, carrots, and I gave him a grape! Hey," Theodore's face fell, "Why'd you go to the Miller's anyway? And you know you're bleeding, right?"

"I'm bleeding? Really? Well, that's news to me!" Alvin threw his arms up and walked into the living room, scaring Simon away from the lettuce, and throwing himself down on the couch. Theodore looked a little beaten, but Alvin sighed and closed his eyes. "I went to find Jeanette. If anyone can read that nonsense," Alvin pointed to the stack of papers on the coffee table, "it would be Jeanette. But I kind of caught Brittany in a bad mood and…"

"Say no more," Theodore put up his hand and shook his head. The youngest Seville had been around long enough to know almost exactly what happened. Although the scrap on the forehead and all the tree bark and leaves on Alvin was a mystery, Theodore didn't want to explore it further. "So she's not home?"

Sighing, Alvin shrugged his shoulders. "Brittany wouldn't tell me." Theodore nodded and took out his phone. Alvin watched as Simon came out of his hiding spot and hopped around the living room. Alvin just couldn't get it. Simon seemed…happy as a rabbit. 'Maybe he doesn't realize he's a rabbit yet,' Alvin thought. Then he shook his head. 'No, he knows. He just can't do anything about it. I guess he's doing this as, like, an experiment, or something. Probably going to call it Life as a Rabbit or something stupid like that. He needs someone to make him better names for his experiments.'

"Alvin?" Theodore called Alvin. Alvin turned his head and looked at Theodore. "Jeanette's not home."

"What? How do you know that?"

Theodore held up his cellphone. "I just called Ellie. She says that Jeanette's not home."

Perfect. Simply perfect. Jeanette, the only other people he knew that could solve this little mystery, wasn't home. "Where did she go?" Theodore proceeded to explain that no one knew where she went to. She just left sometime during the morning and hasn't come back yet. And the boys went quiet. They were back to square one. Simon is a rabbit. And his experiment notes were undecipherable.

"Maybe she's at the library?" Theodore put in hopefully.

Alvin's eyes grew wide. The library! The place of all things nerdy! A refuge for the huddled masses of unpopular kids who couldn't understand the value of not doing homework and just playing. That would be the perfect place for Jeanette to be at. Alvin jumped up from his seat, scaring Simon again who just now sniffing Alvin's sneakers. "I'll be back soon."

"But I want to go!" Theodore said. "What if she's not there? Or you miss her? Two pairs of eyes are better than one, Alvin."

"Where'd you hear that?"

Theodore was quiet. "Simon. He told me once that when you are searching for something, having multiple people is better. That way you can," Theodore shut his eyes tight, trying to remember what the brainy Seville had said, "search through all possibilities and find the thing quicker." Theodore smiled happily that he remembered.

"We can't leave Simon alone, Theodore. He could die, remember?" Theodore reached down and picked up Simon into his arms. He cuddled him a little bit, looking a little sad. He looked up at Alvin and started to weakly protest about what Simon had taught him. Alvin rolled his eyes, huffed, shifted his feet, and was overall acting impatient as Theodore assaulted him with facts that he wasn't sure were all entirely true. Finally, he gave in.

"Go get my backpack, Theodore. We'll bring him with us."


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks for all the support! I'm glad that this is going well. And sorry for the grammar errors. I'll try to do better. Also, please, or please, do not carry around a rabbit in a backpack. Animals should be transported in proper carriers to ensure their comfort and safety. Now, forward we go!**

Alvin walked along quickly with Theodore trying to keep up right beside him. He head was down, his eyes on the ground, cap pulled as low as it would go, and lugging a flowery purple reusable grocery bag over his shoulder. This was simply humiliating for him. Alvin Seville, superstar and man's man, was toting around a girly, frilly, fabric bag with something even girly-er inside it.

It didn't help, either, that Theodore kept on talking to the stupid bag! His baby brother was nervous that Simon wasn't getting enough air, or that he was getting too hot, or that he was hungry again. The short, green eyed Seville just wouldn't stop buzzing around Alvin's right shoulder that held the weight of the trouble maker. It was seriously getting to be annoying.

Looking back at the half an hour before the boys decided to leave the house, Alvin was beginning to have serious thoughts about whether he could actually help Simon or not. It wasn't as if he was unsure where he could find Jeanette. It was the fact that Simon was making things horrible. First, Alvin had to chase him everywhere. Then, Simon had made Alvin get Brittany mad. Next, Alvin had to have an argument with Theodore about who would watch over Simon while they were out. After that, Theodore had almost accidentally dropped the bag, with Simon in it, in front of a car. And now, Alvin, _the_ Alvin Seville, was walking down the street with a girly bag, going to a place that he might have walked by, once.

Alvin glanced into the bag. Simon looked rather peaceful. He was all balled up and just enjoying the motions of the walk. But Alvin wasn't going to buy that. "You better behave, or next time, I'm gonna shove you into that backpack so fast you won't know what hit you."

Point blank, Alvin was stuck with the purple thing because Simon refused, violently, to get into Alvin's backpack. The scuffle had left Alvin with a few more scratches and Simon hiding somewhere in the house. It took a whole ten minutes to locate Simon again, which scared Theodore, since Simon was alone. When they found him again, even Theodore couldn't coax the little creature into the backpack. So the boys had to make due with something else. That's when they found the reusable, recyclable grocery bag.

"Alvin, why are we walking so fast?" Theodore huffed a little, trying to keep his breath. He had lost some of his baby fat, but not all of it.

"We aren't wasting any more time, Theodore."

"So why are you walking like you don't want to be seen?"

"I don't!"

The scowl that Alvin put on was one that he had hoped would stop Theodore from asking anymore questions. He had a reputation to uphold and this whole thing was turning into a bit of a disaster. It was one thing for him to deal with this in the comfort of his own home or in the comfort of the Miller's house, but it was a completely different matter outside of those two places. People could see him! Alvin could see Theodore open his mouth again. It didn't work.

"I can carry him."

"Uh-uh. No. You'll drop him."

"No I won't."

"You almost did last time!"

"I just didn't think it would be that heavy."

"He's a rabbit in a bag. Of course it would be heavy."

Theodore sighed and kicked a rock that was on the sidewalk in front of his moving feet. He stuck his hands in his pockets sadly. Alvin sighed as well and the two just trudged on ahead. Theodore just wanted to help, and Alvin knew it. Simon wasn't just his younger brother, but he was also Theodore's older brother. And those two were pretty close to each other. In fact, when Theodore wasn't with Eleanor or in the kitchen, he was usually found around Simon. Taking a deep breath, Alvin slowly moved the handles off his shoulder.

"Okay, here. But be careful."

Theodore grinned from ear to ear, took the bag carefully from Alvin and held it in front of him, peering inside it and talking to Simon. Alvin looked over into the bag. Simon was looking up at Theodore. If Alvin didn't know any different, he would have sworn that Simon was smiling at Theodore. 'Hm. He hasn't smiled at me yet,' Alvin thought bitterly. Then he caught himself. Did he seriously get jealous over the relationship that his two brothers had with each other, and one that he didn't have with either of them? They were all dudes! Dudes don't get jealous. Over anything!

What was with today? It started out okay. Sure, he had a paper that he had to do to during the summer to make up for his failed test in his eighth grade history class that was due tomorrow. But he was able to sleep in, have some awesome pancakes that Theodore made, Dave left them the house for the first time ever, and he had a great fight with Simon. And…that's where it went downhill. That fight.

Why was this one any different from the other ones? He didn't make Simon all that mad. They actually have had a lot worse. But then again, Alvin had never told Simon that he wasn't his brother anymore. And now, Alvin was in this pickle. He had to try and get Simon back to normal before Dave came home and this alien feeling of jealousy that he had towards Simon and Theodore…Alvin just didn't know what to do anymore.

"Don't you think so, Alvin?"

Alvin pulled himself out of his thoughts. He looked over at Theodore with a raised eyebrow and he adjusted his cap. Theodore seemed to have understood that Alvin hadn't been listening to his one-sided conversation with their brother-rabbit. "I was just telling Simon that this is like when we had Cookie Chomper or Lilly. Especially Lilly. I brought her everywhere with me."

"That's not a pet, Theodore. That's our brother."

"I know," Theodore said sheepishly. But he turned to give Alvin a kind smile and Alvin gladly returned it. It was kind of like their first pets.

Then he felt something kick his foot. Almost immediately after, he could see Theodore falling to the ground. Alvin never thought that life would actually slow down during catastrophic events, but he could see it. Everything was in vivid slow motion. Theodore was falling, his arms outstretched, clutching the bag that held Simon. The look on Theodore's face was of complete surprise, his eyes completely on the bag in front of him. Alvin could feel the sluggish motion of his own body as he leaned in to dive after Theodore and Simon before they hit the ground.

But it was too late.

Just as time had slowed down during the fall, it sped up quickly, almost as if to make up for the moments that time had left behind previously. The bag hit the ground and Simon darted out of it in a quick beeline into the yard of a house the boys were passing. The little thing could run like the wind when out in the wide open.

"Theodore!" Alvin called out, immediately turning himself to follow behind Simon. "Quick, we gotta catch him!"

This chase was far worse than the basement, the basement, and the living room chase. Those three chases paled in comparison to this one. Simon had wide open spaces to run through and many new objects to hide under. The game of tag was back on, and Alvin was reminded for the fourth time that day how much this game sucked.

Simon ran straight under a white picket fence into a well-trimmed yard. Without missing a beat or even thinking about it, Alvin leapt over it, grinning at his vault. He was truly awesome, and those little acts always made him feel it. But he had no time to marvel at his superiority to others less athletic than himself. Simon had darted under a bush, and his dark fur was going to make it that much harder to spot him. By the time that Alvin was half under it, Theodore had just finished shimmying over the fence.

"Go that way, Theo. I'll flush him out!" Alvin called out, pointing to the other side of the bush that was towards the back of the house. Theodore nodded and puffed his way to the other side and readied himself to catch Simon. "C'mon, you little vermin!" Alvin crawled his way in the dirt along the house, under the bush. He could see the soft, black fur huddled up against it just ten feet away from him. He could hear Theodore calling sweetly to Simon.

Alvin rolled his eyes. The Chess King was going to make this hard on him, _every_ step of the way. Still, he kept on moving, reaching out his hand to either get a hold of the scruff of his little brother's little furry neck or to knock him out of the bushes.

His fingers kept inching their way forward. He pulled himself along, not caring that his clothes were getting dirty or that his cap kept on catching on the branches. Simon was getting so close. His fingertips were just about there, and he could see the rapid breath and twitching nose on that little hairball. Almost there.

And then a car horn sounded on the street, and Simon took off again. Alvin scrambled to get out of the bushes while Theodore called to Simon and then shouted to Alvin that Simon was under the porch in the back yard. Popping out of the bushes and making a crazy leap over them, getting just a little bit stuck, Alvin was out of the leafy prison and was sprinting to the back yard, dodging flower beds and knocking a clothes line down in the process.

He could see Theodore's lower half sticking out from the side of a set of steps that lead up the porch. Alvin moved to the other side of the steps and bent down, crawling under it as well. He looked at Theodore. "Where is he?"

Theodore pointed and Alvin just followed it with his eyes. There, along the back of the house, directly in front of the steps, was their man—er, bunny. Alvin just groaned and then pulled himself under. The smell of dirt and decay was so strong under the porch. And the sound of things crunching underneath his hands didn't make this okay with him. He prayed that he wasn't sliding his body along what he probably was sliding along. Bugs and he didn't quite hang anymore. Halfway there, Alvin signaled for Theodore to get away and be ready to catch when Simon ran out again. Theodore did so.

Alvin didn't care about being careful anymore. He just wanted to be done with this day already. He moved quickly, reached out, and tapped Simon on his little cotton butt. Simon shot out of the porch, through a hole in the lattice that surrounded it, and Theodore cried out in victory. Alvin smiled.

He turned himself around and wiggled his way out of the porch, just as footsteps could be heard above him. He dropped his forehead into the dirt and moaned before looking up and behind him, still trying to get on to his feet. His eyes widened. Collina Yutes was looking right down at him from her porch.

"Alvin?" she started. "What are you doing?"

"Collina!" Time for a lie, and a good one at that. "I was just thinking about you and what you said at the end of school last year, about there being something living under your house. I decided it would be the nice thing to, you know, help you out a bit." Alvin wiped his face with something he had somehow picked up along the way and gave her his most debonair smile. She was a really cute girl and he had hoped to get a date with her once they were all in high school.

She was wearing a cute, amused smile, but, as he spoke, she slowly lost it until she was just staring with absolute disbelief at him. As she lost her smile, Alvin was losing his confidence with her and once it was completely gone, he knew something was wrong. He glanced down at himself. He was filthy, with dirt and mud and leaves and grass all over him. His hands were still a little sticky from the sap from the elm tree, and he was pretty sure the scratches on his face and hands just added to his "Just-Got-Out-Of-The-Garbage" look.

He stopped. He looked down at his hands again to see what he was holding. Slowly, with both his hands, he opened it up and then it dawned on him why Collina was looking at him like that. There, in all its glory, was the top of a yellow striped bikini. "Collina! I can explain!"

"You pervert!" Collina shouted, stepping forward angrily, slapping Alvin hard across the face, grabbing her bathing suit, and turning into her house.

Alvin held his own hand to his face with wide eyes. This day was just getting worse. He had never been slapped before! At least, not for a while. And not for something he didn't even do. Well, he had to admit. He did probably grab it, maybe. But it wasn't intentional! And man, did she have a mean hit. He could feel his cheek starting to swell a little. Dejectedly, he turned and left her yard to find that Theodore had high-tailed it out of there as soon as Collina came out of the house.

Theodore was standing on the sidewalk, holding the bag open while peering inside of it. Vaguely, Alvin could hear Theodore reprimand Simon for running off and causing so much trouble. Alvin squatted down and adjusted his cap. He needed to do some serious soul-searching, right this moment, about this entire thing.

First thing was first. Were things completely ruined with Collina Yutes? Yea, those hopes and dreams were dashed. She would never believe that he was just chasing some random rabbit through her yard and that he just so happened to get a hold of the one thing that he probably shouldn't have even touched with her knowing. Next, why was Simon doing this to him? They fought all the time! Maybe Simon was just still mad. But surely Simon could see how much Alvin was trying to do for him! Right? Lastly, did he even want to continue this? Sadly, it wasn't an option. Alvin had to. He was beginning to miss Simon's smart comments. And Theodore was starting to see Simon more and more as a pet. Alvin had actually thought that Theodore was scolding Simon in a baby-voice. Yea. He needed to continue.

"Alvin?" Theodore asked, his eyes filling with sympathy. "Are you okay?"

Alvin nodded, took a deep breath, stood up, and faced the direction that the library was in. "Give me that bag. You aren't carrying him anymore. You'll drop him."

"I tripped."

"And you dropped him. Give it here." Theodore sighed and handed the bag over to Alvin. "I think we're almost to the library. Yea," he continued on, more to himself, and trying to straighten up and putting his eyes into a steadfast gaze off into the middle distance. "Let's go."

"Trying to look cool again?" Theodore commented after they started walking while Alvin continued to look off to wherever it was he decided to focus on.

"Who said anything about trying?" Alvin grinned back, dirt smeared all over his face except for his red, swollen cheek. Theodore hid his smile. Alvin would be Alvin, even with a hand print.


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, so this one day will probably be a posting marathon. It's my one and only day off for the work week and I will use it doing what I do best; avoiding personal responsibilities and goofing off! And now, the search for Jeanette continues.**

What was this place? It smelled weird and it was really quiet. The creepiest thing was that there were…people…here. At least, Alvin thought that they were people. They could have been mannequins, except they moved periodically. Maybe they were automatons. Wait. How did he even know that word? This place…there is strange magic here.

Once the boys stepped into the cool, air-conditioned building, Alvin felt that all eyes were on him. He immediately straightened up and put on his grin. Of course all eyes would be on him. Why wouldn't they not want to bask in his glow of sheer awesome? He went to move his hand to wave coolly at a surprisingly cute girl there when he noticed how dirty it was. Then it dawned on him.

He was covered in dirt. His cheek was bruised. He had scratches on his hands and a scrapped forehead. And he was carrying the most unmanly bag imaginable. The bag vibrated as he felt Simon move in it. Quickly, he lowered his cap and hunched his shoulders, trying to hide his face. Theodore just walked after him.

They went down one row after another. They would stop here and there. The books were overwhelming, but Alvin and Theodore didn't have interest in those right now. They were 'munks on a mission and that mission was Operation Get-Nerdy-Girl. He shrugged when he came up with the title. He could tell it was bad, but he could use it as future fuel for Brittany's never dying fire. He just had to get through this stupid thing first.

Theodore kept on whispering to the bag. Angrily, and not so gracefully, Alvin changed shoulders with it to keep it away from Theodore. "Stop it! We can't have him in here with us," Alvin hushed out. Theodore frowned and looked down an aisle. He quickly glanced at the bag again, noticing it shift.

"What if he's not okay?"

"What could possibly be his problem?" Theodore shrugged. "He ate, he had his exercise, and he's tucked away from harm. He should be fine. Stop babying him. He's our _brother_. Not _pet_."

"I know!" Theodore cried out. A shush followed soon after, causing the two boys to wince. Theodore stopped walking and Alvin could feel him being pulled to his own stop. "I know he's not our pet. But he is a bunny right now. Bunnies are fragile. At least, that's what the website said."

It then occurred to Alvin what Theodore was trying to do. He wasn't trying to smother Simon with love. Well, yea, he was, actually. But it wasn't the love that Theodore has had to their pets. It was love that was hiding his worry. The little guy was just trying to make sure, in his own way that Simon was okay. And the only way that he could do that was to keep constant watch on Simon at all times. Also, Theodore did say it before. He thought that Simon was upset. Maybe that was why Simon was being difficult.

"Theodore, do you think that Simon is scared?" Alvin asked quietly after a long while.

Those big green eyes. They were so easy to read right now. Usually, Alvin just didn't bother. But there was the answer right there. "I would be. If I accidentally turned myself into a rabbit, I would definitely be scared and immediately go to Simon for help. But if I put myself in Simon's shoes, I would be even more scared. I…I wouldn't know who to go to. I wouldn't know how to get help. I just don't want him to be scared."

Alvin gulped and then slowly asked his next question. "Are you trying to comfort him?"

Theodore nodded, looking away in embarrassment. There was nothing else that could be said between the two brothers. Alvin didn't want to think about what Simon was going through or what Theodore was going through. He only cared about the inconvenience he was facing. He shook his head. This wasn't like him. He took a deep breath and thought. He was doing what he could to help Simon, but that was going to take a while. But he could help Theodore now. He handed Simon over to Theodore.

"I think Simon would rather be carried by you, Theo. He likes you better."

Theodore took the bag and, this time, put his arms securely through the handles. He gave a weak smile. "He loves us both, Alvin."

"You kids get out of the library! This is a place for learning, not fooling around!" a librarian called out. Alvin and Theodore jumped, directing their eyes towards a woman who was walking towards them. The boys froze and waited. They weren't fooling around. At least, it shouldn't have looked like it. They were just looking for their friend and being quiet. But, considering how the day was going, Alvin wasn't going to be surprised if they got in trouble for just standing. But he sighed in relief as she walked past them.

"Let's get going. Jeanette should be here." Theodore indicated the next aisle with his head. Alvin nodded and the two continued on to look for their friend and the only hope that the two boys thought they had to save their brother.

Their eyes scanned this aisle, that aisle, behind this stack of books, behind that one, in this room, and then into the next. Each place was the same. Nothing. Nada. Nope. No Jeanette anywhere. Alvin had gotten a little bored with the search, as they made their way down another aisle. This place was a maze and it was a wonder that anyone could find anything here. He began to think that this place should have some sort of system to organize everything.

'Great,' Alvin sighed. 'I'm now thinking like a nerd. Better get out of here soon before I'm completely transformed.' He rolled his eyes and then stopped in his tracks. Theodore turned to look behind him and at his brother curiously. He asked if Alvin spotted Jeanette, but Alvin didn't say anything. He was just looking up at the top row of one of the book shelves. Theodore walked back to Alvin.

"Holy mother of everything cool and rocking," Alvin mumbled to himself, never letting his eyes move from what they were looking at. He then became aware of Theodore and he wrapped his arm around him, pointing with his other at a book that was lying on top of the stack. "Do you know what that is!?"

Theodore just looked at Alvin and then back at the shelf. He shook his head and tried to walk away. But Alvin held him fast to his side. "That's the first twenty issues of 'Batmunk' that they put together into one, limited edition, hardcover book! They only printed, like, two thousands of those!" Alvin had released his hold and started to climb up the side of the bookshelf to get to his prize.

"Alvin," Theodore whispered out. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Psh. These things are sturdy, see?" Alvin rocked back and forth a little before he started his climb again. The shelf did teeter a little bit, but not too much. Still, Theodore was nervous and he shuffled his feet, looking around him. All he could hear were hushed voices of people speaking around him and Alvin grumbling about the place needing a ladder.

"He's going to get us into a lot more trouble," Theodore said, looking into the bag at Simon. His smarter brother seemed to be asleep. Theodore made sure that Simon was breathing before he looked away from the floppy ears.

Alvin shot out a quick "yes!" while holding up the book and smiling down at Theodore and still hanging on to the top shelf. Theodore smiled and motioned for Alvin to come down. But something stopped Alvin. There, on the cover, in ink that had to have been made by a pen, was the signature of the creator. This was a signed edition! There were only, like, one hundred of those! Score!

"Now get out of here. You are not to come here again, you hear me?" the librarian's voice rang out from the other side of the bookshelf. Theodore and Alvin remained perfectly still as they listened to a couple of teenagers grumble to themselves as they were escorted off of the property. And apparently, one of them was really unhappy. Alvin felt a quick bang to the shelf and it began to teeter. A lot more than before.

He dropped the book and held on tight. Theodore gasped and moved to hold up the bookshelf from falling, since it looked as if the shelf was going to come crashing on top of them. Alvin looked around, seeing that none of the perpetrators or the librarian knew that they really knocked the bookshelf loose. He looked down at Theodore as he tried hard, his face growing red, trying to keep the shelf still. And it was a losing battle.

Alvin could feel the tilt backwards. He reached up and held on to the other side of the shelf, trying to keep his own balance and not fall. There was some nervousness there, but he was way to macho to admit that he was scared. All that he could do was hold on and hope for the best.

But luck was really not on his side. Theodore was losing his own grip and strength, and he looked up with sad eyes at Alvin. Alvin knew what that meant at that moment. Theodore couldn't hold on anymore. And the shelf gave way.

The littlest Seville managed to dodge halfway down the aisle as the shelf toppled and hit the shelf next to it. Alvin had released his grip and fell prey to a cascade of hard covered books. As they landed on him, he realized he found out where that weird smell was coming from. But the dominos kept on falling, loud crashes being heard as each one hit the other.

Alvin knocked off all the books and scrambled out from under the shelf. He did a quick check to make sure that he was fine. Then he looked for Theodore. He found him on the other side of the mess, looking inside that purple bag, and Alvin felt a wave of relief wash over him. Until Theodore looked up at Alvin and showed him the inside of the bag.

Frantically, the boys dove into the pile of wooden shelves and books, looking for Simon as quickly as they could. They could hear footsteps coming their way. It was only in a perfect world that five to ten bookshelves in a library would fall over and no one would come to check out what the sound was. Just as Alvin reached down and quickly pulled out a black, fuzzy rabbit, a gasp was heard at the door.

"Run for it!" Alvin cried, tucking Simon into the crook of his arm like Simon was a football, and running over the bookshelves and books with Theodore close behind him. The librarian screamed after them, but the boys made it to the other side of the wall of books and were running down the wall of the building. There, up head, Alvin could see an exit. He looked back to make sure that Theodore was still there. Alvin pointed.

He pushed all his weight into the door, slammed his hand against the pushbar, and pushed the door open. An alarm sounded and Theodore and Alvin's eyes both grew even wider, stopping them for a moment in their tracks. "Run faster for it!" Alvin screamed in panic as both boys made their way down the street, running faster than either of them ever hoped to have to run like again.

Once they were home, they moved liked lightning. They locked all the doors. Closed the blinds. Shut off all the lights. And they sat in silence, breathing heavily, in the living room on the couch. Their eyes were wide and they just stared ahead of them. They had just finished making sure that Simon was injury free, and were relieve to find that he was. Theodore was now holding on to Simon protectively, close to his chest and burying his face in Simon's soft fur. Simon just seemed to let Theodore do as he pleased.

"Okay," Alvin breathed out at last. "Okay, so that didn't go as planned."

"Right," Theodore put in dejectedly. Alvin glanced over. Theodore seemed a little traumatized. They had caused mayhem and destruction before, but not on that level and _never_ enough that they actually thought the cops could be called on them. They did set off a fire alarm.

"They never saw us there before. We don't even have library cards."

"Right." Theodore answered in the same way, still holding Simon.

"And it wasn't even our fault! It was those other guys."

"Right." The poor guy couldn't even think of anything else to say.

"It was a wrong place and the wrong time situation. We just need to lay low for a while. They probably didn't even recognize us. I mean, look at me! Yea, my good looks always shine through, but I'm sure that this is a good enough disguise. And you've been losing weight. And Simon wasn't even with us! Well, not the Simon they know. We'll be fine!"

"Right." And the room went into silence again.

This day was just getting better and better. Alvin sighed and put his head in his hands when he felt a stinging sensation in his wrist. He looked at it in a hurry. A large bruise was forming on it. He pinched the bridge of his noise and huffed out a breath in agitation. With everything that had happened on their little outing, there was no way that he was going outside again today. It must be a full moon or some sort of hex that was placed on him from the witch down the street. He narrowed his eyes. That woman had been screaming at him for two weeks now. He knew she was a witch. She must have hexed him.

There was a knock at the door. Both boys jumped up in freight and their eyes looked at the door, fixated beyond anything. Simon was still in Theodore's arms and even he seemed to know the same fear his brothers had. The knock resounded against the door again.

"Hello? Theodore? Are you home?"

Theodore sighed in relief and blinked. Alvin also let out the breath that he was holding and went to answer the door. He peaked through the curtains of the window first to make sure that it was Eleanor. As he did that, the knock was heard again. There on the porch he could see the littlest Miller. He opened the door a crack.

"Hey Eleanor," Alvin smirked at her, trying to keep back in the house.

"Alvin! What happened to you?" Eleanor could see the state that Alvin was in.

"Oh, you know. This and that. Can I help you?"

Alvin wasn't about to let Eleanor into the house. She could be with the community book club, for all he knew. And the last thing he needed was a book club spy finding out their hide-out.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Brittany's voice rang out and she pushed the door open. It hit Alvin in his forehead and he stumbled back, holding on to it. He heard the girls enter a few steps and then he heard them stop. He looked up at Brittany with a scowl, still holding on to his forehead which was now aching with a dull pain. Brittany and Eleanor both were looking at him with wide eyes.

Theodore came out from the living room and stood, looking at Eleanor and Brittany while holding Simon. The girls looked at him, with his sad and tired face, back to a really disheveled Alvin, and then to the mystery pet in Theodore's arms.

"Okay," Brittany said slowly, glancing at Eleanor. "I think you're right. Something weird is going on with the boys." She looked at Alvin, who was now sitting tiredly on the steps of the stairs. "Sorry, for the door. Um, okay. What's going on?"

Alvin looked away, resting his chin on his wrist. Theodore stepped forward. "We have a big problem," he spoke quietly while looking down at the rabbit.


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay, so I had to give my writing a day or two just to get the creative juices flowing again. And after a quick visit to my friend's dog grooming salon and having a French Bulldog dance party, my flow is back and I'm ready to do this. Also, kind of sick of this song stuck in my head—Walk like an Egyptian. Maybe I should just listen to it (Chipette version, of course) and it will go away.**

"C'mon boys, what's the problem?" Brittany crossed her arms and looked pointedly at Theodore and then at Alvin. Alvin, not moving from his spot on the stairs, just glared back at her. It was amazing that he was desperate enough to climb a tree to talk to her earlier only to be turned away, and now she wanted to help. "You look horrible, by the way."

Alvin groaned and buried his face in his hands. Theodore just stared at his feet, finding it difficult to even tell the girls anything else other than point out that they had a problem. He just held on to Simon and watched. Eleanor, spying the little rabbit in Theodore's arms and instantly knowing that her best friend was feeling pretty miserable, just went over to him and patted his arm.

"Didn't you know? It's the latest summer craze, Eco-friendly," Alvin eventually spat back, biting his lip instantly. Truly, there was something about that woman that made him just want to irritate her, even though he knew in his own heart that they needed the girls to help find Jeanette. He couldn't look at her though. But he did hear her huff.

"Since when did you guys get a rabbit?" She put in suddenly. Instead of getting all rustled about Alvin's sarcastic comment, Brittany had decided to try a new approach. She wasn't cold hearted and she knew exactly when things got serious. And they were serious. Especially after seeing the way that Theodore and Alvin were running past their house. She didn't even really understand that those were the Seville boys until she really thought about it. It was then that Eleanor, also seeing them, told Brittany that they might want to check up on them.

"Oh him? We've always had him." More words that Alvin didn't intend. He looked up and rubbed is arm, staring at the long floppy ears.

Brittany sighed, dropped her arms, and walked over to the rabbit. She gave him a good look before glancing back over at Alvin. He was very flustered. And he looked like he had the worst day ever. He was obviously exhausted and on the verge of just wigging out from whatever it was that had bothered him. It was strange to see him this way. He wasn't the type to let things get the better of him. Quickly, she got very concerned but continued to hide it.

"He's cute!" she squeaked out, trying to at least lighten the atmosphere. She began to gently pet him while Theodore looked up at her with wide eyes. "Hey, little guy. I didn't know that you lived here."

"Me either," Eleanor put in, catching Brittany's lead and giving Simon a little scratch. He seemed to have liked that. "I really like your ears. But you look so tired. What did the boys do to you today?" And that was when Theodore lost it.

He burst into tears, stooping low to the ground and cradling the little thing in his shaking arms. Brittany and Eleanor were shocked. Eleanor more so. She quickly went down to the floor and put her arms around her friend, bringing him into a big hug. She was apologizing as fast as she could go in her sweet, motherly voice. She was trying everything just to comfort him. Brittany, wide eyed and very confused, turned to see Alvin now standing with a new look completely on him. She hated those eyes, and she had only ever seen them a few times. And every time, it scared her.

Alvin was mad beyond all possible reason.

"Us? What did _we_ do!? IT'S ALL HIS FAULT!" And then, Alvin lost it. He paced throwing his arms around as he ranted and raved about all the things that they had done that day, knocking a few things over in the process which only angered him more and gave him a few more injuries. Eleanor and Brittany could barely make any sense of it as he just went on and on, and both kind of moved away from the wide swings in his arms. All that Brittany could get out of the whole thing was that this had something to do with Simon, that the boys were trying to fix it, Jeanette was somewhere in the picture, and the cops might show up. By the time was Alvin was finished, he was standing in place, breathing fast, staring at the floor, hiding his face behind the brim of his cap.

Alvin couldn't believe that the girls were accusing them of doing something wrong when they had no idea what was happening in the first place. But then again, with everything turning out the way it was, there was no surprise that the girls would be here to upset them. He honestly felt close to tears. He was just so frustrated, so tired, and so scared that he felt those tears creeping somewhere behind his eyes.

Suddenly, he felt a pair of arms around him. He looked up startled to see his best friend giving him the biggest hug. She looked up at him with sad, caring eyes and he just looked back, feeling himself relax a little. Brittany was obviously sorry for offending him. And she didn't know what was going on. And, considering everything that they've ever been through, she had reason to suspect that he was responsible for terrorizing a rabbit, even though it was the complete opposite. He turned and gave her a hug back.

"Okay," Brittany pulled back from him and looking at him sincerely. He couldn't help but to realize that even his best friend, the one he took the biggest joy in teasing, was able to look in a way that he was beginning to think that he was incapable of appearing. She had such a great heart and was such a great friend, and all he did was just step all over that. Just like with his brothers, apparently. "Tell me exactly what's wrong. We'll help you through it."

Alvin just sighed and glanced over at Theodore. His baby brother had stopped crying but was still cradling his other brother while Eleanor did her best to comfort him. Alvin nodded and shrugged his shoulder towards the living room. All four of them, plus a rabbit, made their way and they all sat down. Alvin and Brittany were on the couch while Theodore and Eleanor were on the floor. Theodore let Simon go and Simon simply settled down between the two counterparts.

It seemed like, to Alvin, that Simon was still trying, in his own furry way, to help them. Theodore was right. He was scared. And he really didn't mean any of what he did, probably. Also, to be fair, the library might not even be Simon's fault. Maybe. Like, it was possible that Simon could have been behaving, just a little bit, and not have even turned up during that whole sequence of misfortune. Probably. The rabbit snuggled into Eleanor's knee. Well, maybe not. He really seemed to be liking this attention. Stupid rabbit. Stupid Simon.

He glanced sideways to see that Brittany was still waiting patiently. He nodded. "Okay, so here it goes."

"No tricks, Alvin. I'm serious."

"What kind of friend are you? Would I ever trick you!?"

"I'm not answering that. Just…just tell us the truth."

It was very hard to fight down the glare that was forming. Wasn't there anyone out there who would trust him, even just a little bit? He just shook his head. "Okay. Long story short, we're looking for Jeanette. Do you know where she is, Brittany?" He decided to skip the middle parts. And the beginning. And the last part, too. He just went for the goal.

Her eyes went wide in surprise. Yea, she knew that he was looking for Jeanette earlier, but was his issue so bad that he would end up looking like this without Jeanette's help? But the way that Alvin kept his eye contact, the way that Theodore was so stiff…whatever it was, they were convinced that Jeanette was the only one to help. "You need to start from the beginning, Alvin. I am really confused and I can't help you if I don't…"

"We need Jeanette! That's how you can help. Just tell us where she is."

"We don't know! She still hasn't come home, yet, and we have no idea where she went. Jeanette even left her cell phone at home, so we have no way to call her. You obviously need help and it looks like you're going to have to settle for us. And I'd make it quick before I get mad and just go home."

"Okay, okay. This…this is going to sound…well, I'm seriously telling you the truth. You see, the thing is…Jeanette has a cell phone?" Brittany just looked at him annoyed.

"Simon's a rabbit." Theodore put in, stroking the fur on Simon's back.

The room fell into complete silence. Brittany and Eleanor just looked at each other, then the rabbit, back at each other, and then at their hands. Suddenly, the room was filled with a fit of giggles. Alvin and Theodore looked at their friends angrily and with hurt eyes. The girls were laughing so hard and they weren't stopping. After about two minutes, Alvin was livid again.

"If you're just going to laugh," Alvin cried, standing up angrily and looking down at Brittany, "then just get out! We don't need _you_, anyway!"

"Alvin, you seriously can't be mad at us!" Brittany continued on in a light hearted manner once she was able to talk again. "Do you really think that you can make me believe that Simon is a rabbit? A cute, fuzzy, fluffy, long ear-ed, completely adowable wittle _wabbit_? What do you take us for?"

Eleanor and Brittany burst out into another fit of laughter. Theodore bit his lip. Alvin just glared in a way that he hoped was worse than the way he had Brittany looking earlier that day. Finally, when Brittany did look up, she slowed down her laughter to a chuckle and then to a snicker. With a smile and tears in her eyes, she blinked and then said, "You're serious?"

The glare continued and Alvin clenched his jaw. Brittany slowly lost her smile and then looked over at the rabbit that was now hopping behind Theodore. "But…"

"There was an accident. The labs a mess and Alvin found a lot of things that prove it, along with Simon looking like this," Theodore talked glumly. Alvin was still too furious to do anything but stand in front of Brittany with his glare. Brittany just peaked around Alvin's standing form to look at Theodore and Eleanor sat quietly. "I didn't believe it either, but it's really Simon. Call him. You'll see."

Brittany sat up normally again and looked up at Alvin, still the most serious she had ever seen him. Slowly, she bent down to the floor and tapped the carpet carefully, calling Simon's name. The little rabbit hopped over to her and her eyes grew wide and Eleanor gasped. "He even likes you better than me," Alvin muttered, needed something to take his anger out on, and choosing his favorite subject for that day. He sat down again and watched as Brittany picked Simon up carefully and looked him over. "Britt, we've got to find Jeanette. She's the only one who can get him back to normal."

"Did you try looking at the library?"

Alvin groaned and his head sank into his hands again. Brittany glanced over at Theodore. The little guy looked like he was on the verge of tears again. She sighed. "I guess that's a yes."

The room was silent again. Brittany just stared at everyone. Alvin wasn't moving and Theodore was very upset still. Eleanor was just trying to help her friend in a quiet way. Then she looked down at the rabbit/boy in her lap. He was just lying there, stretched out. She could have sworn he looked just as dejected at his brothers were. And Jeanette was nowhere to be found. If she wasn't at school or the library, or with Simon, then who knows where she was. Brittany then perked up.

"Why do you need Jeanette, anyway?"

Alvin just pointed his finger to the coffee table. She looked at it and could see a pile of papers. She leaned over and picked them up, swiftly moving through them. The picture of Jeanette that was on top made her smile, but she didn't have time to think of the meaning behind it. Instead, she could only think of ways to try to understand what was written on them. They weren't the latest teen magazine that was for sure. Brittany felt a little dizzy. She wasn't smart enough to know how to read this. She didn't even know what this was!

"Those are Simon's notes for the experiment. Simon pointed them out to us earlier today," Alvin seemed to understand that Brittany was having trouble. Alvin simply knew Brittany. And Brittany was like him. That stuff was better used as tissue paper than anything else, to them. Alvin dropped his hands and looked up, staring at nothing in particular. "We asked Simon to point out the notes and we gathered them. They were everywhere. On the table, on the floor, you name it. I tried looking over them, but it was no use. That's when I came across Jeanette's picture. Then I went to your house."

"Why didn't you just say you were looking for Jeanette?" Brittany snapped, remembering the random visit from Alvin earlier that day.

Alvin gave her a very weak and tired smirk. It was almost the same as the one he would usually give her, just with less feeling behind it. "What can I say? You bring out the best in me, Britt." Brittany sighed in a huff and decided to continue to shift through the papers, not really looking at them. Alvin continued. "Do you know that rabbits can die if they get too lonely? Yea, well, neither did us. When we found that out, it was around the time that you locked me out of your house and…"

"You mean, stopped you from breaking and entering."

"Yea, whatever. Anyway, we decided to go looking for Jeanette at the library and we had to bring Simon along, because, like I said, rabbits can die if they get lonely. Well, she wasn't there and we're still at the same problem. We're not smart enough to read those and make an antidote, and Jeanette is still missing."

Brittany and Eleanor just looked at each other and sat in quiet. After five minutes, Brittany spoke. "Psh. You aren't going to get me to believe that we aren't smart. We are! We can figure this out, we just have to be proactive."

Eleanor cried out in agreement. "Right!" she moved to sit next to Brittany and looked over her shoulder. "Now the first thing that we definitely have to do would be…" Eleanor carefully took the papers from Brittany and looked through them herself. Her face was contorted into one that showed she was thinking hard. "We need these in order. Science is just like cooking! There are steps, and if you don't do everything in the right order, then you don't get what you want."

"That's right!" Theodore said, his face lighting up a bit.

"I'm for that," Brittany assented. "But how are we going to figure this out? That…I'm going to be completely honest, I don't understand any of that."

The room was once again in silence before Alvin perked up with hope, his eyes sparkling for the first time in about an hour or two. "We don't have to figure it out! We have Simon right here. Okay," Alvin picked up Simon and placed him on the floor. Then he took all the papers and laid them out, face up, all around the living room, moving Theodore from the floor to the couch. Once he was finished, he got down on his hands and knees in front of his brother and looked him directly in his pale blue eyes. "Simon, help us out. We're going to get you back to normal, but you've got to help us. Which page goes first?"

Nose twitch. Ear scratch. Stare.

"What's wrong with you!?" Alvin shouted at the rabbit.

"Wait, Alvin," Theodore said, moving over to his brothers. "Let me try." Alvin moved away angrily and muttered under his breath about how Simon shouldn't be holding grudged, especially after all that they had been through today. Brittany was going to comment on it, but Theodore began to gently plead with Simon. She watched, wondering what the boys were trying to make Simon do.

Simon hopped over a few papers and then sat on one, looking at Theodore. Theodore asked if the paper Simon was on was the first, and Simon just twitched his nose. Theodore smiled and reached for it. Simon moved on to the next. It didn't take any more than half an hour of coaxing and smiles to get Simon down to the last two pages. Brittany and Eleanor were amazed. That really was Simon. It had to be. Simon didn't like to make Theodore beg.

"Okay, Simon," Brittany said, also on the floor with her sister and Theodore, all looking at the rabbit. She was holding up two pages. One was the picture of Jeanette and the other was something that looked like Spanish or Swahili, or something. "Which is the next paper?" She set them down and they all waited. But Simon didn't move. Theodore leaned in and whispered an encouragement. Eleanor also did so. Alvin just stood, looking down at them all, and made some sort of threat about rabbit stew. But he didn't move.

"I don't understand it. We only have two papers left. And we already told Simon to put Jeanette's picture in the pile exactly where we would need her help," Eleanor moved to sit with her legs crossed under her. It was agreed that they would eventually be needed the help of the other Miller.

"Maybe Simon is hungry," Theodore rubbed his stomach and then looked at the clock. It was getting close to dinner time.

"Maybe he wants to stay a bunny. Gets way more attention from girls that way." Alvin plopped down on the couch, still filthy and sore.

Brittany just sat up and bit her lip in thought, staring down at the little genius. She began to think, since her counterpart was obviously through with thinking for the rest of the day. If she was a maniacal genius that was turned into a rabbit, why would she stop helping just at the very end? She would want to be back to normal. And she was sure that Simon would want it too. And there were only two pages left. What could be the holdup? She took a deep breath and then her eyes went wide.

"We're missing a page, aren't we!?" she knelt down again, excited, looking at the pale blue eyes. At first, she didn't think that he looked like Simon at all, but those eyes…Simon did have some creepy colored eyes. The eyes blinked and Simon began to hop away, out of the living room.

"You did it, Brittany!" Eleanor gave Brittany a quick hug in delight. Brittany hugged back and the two girls began to follow Simon out of the room. The boys got up and followed as well, hearing Brittany talk in her superior voice about how they were all smarter than they thought.

Alvin couldn't take it anymore. This had to be finished and he wanted it to be finished now. He pushed ahead of the girls and reached down, scooping his hopping brother into his arms and making his way to the basement. If there was a paper missing, it would be down in the basement. He flung the door open and went down the stairs at a quick pace. He hesitated at the bottom of the stairs. Rushing wasn't going to get them through this any faster, and it wasn't going to be over until he could see his brother's annoying, irritating, but endearing smirk.

"Simon," he sighed. "Put your trust in me, okay? Show us the last page." Alvin knelt down and carefully placed Simon on the floor. Simon scratched his ear before hopping into his lab and making his way around the room. Alvin and Theodore followed, forcing the girls to stay outside. The girls all looked around at the mess and the boys carefully moved their way around the broken glass.

Simon then picked up a piece of paper and turned on his heels away from Theodore and Alvin, hopping awkwardly to Brittany. Alvin and Theodore looked a little indignant as they chased after him, complaining about Simon's lack of faith in them. Brittany took the paper from the little rabbit and looked it over. "Alvin, face it, you guys were running around in circles before I showed up."

Wow, what an ego. Alvin thought that there was only room for one ego in that neighborhood and that was his. But it seemed as if Brittany had one just as big. And Simon wasn't helping. He just refused to let Alvin help him. If anything, Simon was always trying to get away from him! His stupid brother was just being stubborn and Alvin tried to hide the hurt at being rejected. He looked to see if Theodore was having the same pain. But Theodore was just smiling and Eleanor was holding Simon happily. Theodore didn't take offense. Maybe Alvin was seeing this is a different way then he should be seeing it. Was Simon really trying to hurt Alvin's feelings? Maybe Simon was just playing the odds, like he usually did when the boys were betting with each other.

"Uh oh," Brittany muttered. All eyes were on her. "Um, we have an even bigger problem. Read this," Brittany shoved the paper in Alvin's face. Alvin scanned the paper quickly.

It looked like more gobbilty-gook to him. He was about to look up and ask Brittany what she was talking about when he spotted it. At the end of the page, in little scrawled Simon letters, read the following words:

_Permanent Transformation after twenty-eight hours_

"Uh oh." Alvin looked at the clock. If he found Simon like this at one, that means he probably did this to himself around noon, or so. So that means… "Guys, we have until four o'clock tomorrow to get him back to normal."

Time was now of the essence.


	7. Chapter 7

**So chapter posting madness, I guess. The last chapter was really somber. But don't worry, we'll pick back up to what we were at starting….now!**

Seriously? Seriously!? C'mon, SERIOUSLY!? Did they really have to find that? Was it really true? The rabbit looked pretty nonchalant about everything, hopping gleefully around the room. Or maybe that was panic. Could be panic. Helping out with the search? Lightening the mood? Wait, transformation? He's not done changing or is this kind of like a slowly but surely type of thing? If it is, that means they have even less time, right? He could have begun the process long before Alvin had ever fought with him. That meant that Alvin was off the hook! Alvin wasn't responsible for it and wasn't obligated to assist anymore. That could have been why Simon didn't want to show them the last paper. Then Peter Cotton-butt was having the time of his life messing with him, but not anymore. Alvin could wipe his hands of this, dust off his shoulder, and walk away with a reasonable amount of swag. He'd leave it for Whiskers McFluffly to figure out. There had to be a plan up his furry little sweater. Maybe Jeanette is in this too! She's hiding around the place, recording all this for good times and laughter afterwards, at least, to those two.

Or, perhaps it really was an accident. Maybe it was supposed to do something else, like make Simon into some sort of amazing pro-wrestler or something, but it changed him into something with an unusual like for carrots. No, there was a chance. The lab was still a royal mess and Simon was too neat and organized to leave it in that state. The likelihood that something did happen was pretty high up there. Alvin could keep on going back and forth about this, but the pure simple truth was that Bugs Bunny needed help and Alvin had to do it.

"Alvin," a voice called to him. It then repeated his name in a sterner voice. "Alvin!"

"What!?" Alvin opened his eyes and stared ahead of him. He could see the two chipettes and Theodore hovering over him with concerned eyes. Brittany was shaking him, not all that gently.

"Are you okay?" Eleanor put in. Simon was in her arms, her hands wrapped around his waist and his long legs hanging down towards the floor.

Alvin slowly picked himself up. His head was swimming and it hurt again, but more so than it had hurt earlier. What had happened? He was in the basement with everyone, they were looking for something, they found it, they found out that they had about twenty-four hours to change Simon back to normal and then…what? "What happened," he covered his eyes and rubbed them.

"You fainted." Brittany wasn't going to sugarcoat anything.

"Excuse me? Alvin Seville doesn't faint."

"You did a pretty good job of it."

"What do you take me for!?"

"A fainter."

"I did not faint, Brittany."

"Then what was that?"

"I was...just resting my eyes a bit."

"Your 'resting eyes' rolled into the back of your head, you began to breathe a little fast, and then you made contact with the floor. Thud. You went down. Unconscious. You fainted."

"I was attacked! I had to have been. And I know that you have something to do with it!" Alvin pointed at the one scape-goat he had for the day.

"Me? What did I do?" Eleanor asked hurt.

"No, not you. _Him!_" Alvin said darkly. The rabbit just stared back at him, hanging from Eleanor's arms, blinking and enjoying the show. "And for the record, you little rodent, you owe me BIG for this, you got that?" Alvin poked Simon in the nose. Eleanor exclaimed and moved Simon away from Alvin. Alvin growled and then turned to look at the clock on his cell phone. It was almost five! How long was he out for? It was about four when they came down into the basement, right?

"How is it five o'clock?"

"Well, you fainted…" Theodore began.

"I did NOT faint!"

"You started to rest your eyes and we thought you were just being dramatic. After a quick dinner, we realized you were still down here. So we came to check."

"After you didn't wake up, we kind of figured out you fainted." Eleanor finished, adjusting Simon in her arms. He was a heavy rabbit. But he was just too cute to put down.

"Oh, real nice, guys," Alvin brought out his pity voice and turned to walk up the stairs, his head still a little light. "Leave a fainted guy on the floor for an hour. Real cool."

"I thought you didn't faint?" Brittany had to keep this up. Alvin wasn't the only one who thought that Brittany could be very cute when she was angry. She liked to see Alvin on the ropes, fighting back against a losing battle. His undying determination, even when he was wrong, was a quality that she found less irritating about her friend.

"I didn't! Look, let's drop it. We've got to figure out how to get Simon back to normal. Any ideas from the think tank?" He looked over his shoulder. They were all following him quietly. "I'll take that as a no."

"We looked through the notes while you were 'resting your eyes'," Brittany replied, putting air quotes around the last part. Alvin just grunted. "We still don't want to try making up the antidote. And Jeanette should be home by now, so how about we just go over to my house and see if she's there."

"Why not try to call her again?" Alvin spat back. They were all by the front door, standing and facing each other. He did not want to go outside again. Not after everything that had happened. While he was looking pointedly at Brittany, he could see Theodore gasp and then scurry off to the kitchen. Brittany just looked at him.

"She left her phone at home, remember? And she doesn't exactly carry it with her at all times. She could be home, but even if she did hear it, she probably wouldn't find it in time. And who knows, she might have something over there to help. She does do a lot of experiments with Simon. She could be involved in this one."

"That…" Alvin was going to argue, saying that her idea was pretty horrible. But he had to think about it. She was pretty much right. They might not even need the stupid notes. Jeanette may have a very good idea as to how Simon got like this and probably even might know if there is already an antidote for it! Once again, the girl nerd was absolutely needed, so it was absolutely, without a doubt, necessary to go out of the house. Again. "That's a good idea. Okay, Eleanor, you're on bunny duty. Theo keeps on dropping him and I'm kind of hating him too much to want to carry him."

Eleanor rolled her eyes and kept her hold on Simon. He really seemed to be okay with being hauled around by the blonde chipette. Alvin really wanted to say something about it, but decided to hold his tongue. They had twenty-three hours or something like that. It was possible that they had even less than that. He turned to Brittany. "You're nosey, Britt, so you must know where Jeanette must keep her own notes or whatever. So you and I are going to search, if she's not home. I don't want another wasted trip out of this house!" Alvin had to interrupt Brittany before an argument could start again. "And you, Theodore," Theodore was coming back into the foyer, holding something in his hands, "You just…I don't know. Just come with us!"

"Wait, why is Simon coming with us again?" Brittany eyed the little furball.

Alvin rolled his eyes and stamped his foot impatiently. "Rabbits can die if they get lonely, remember?

"Where are we going?" Theodore asked, handing Alvin the sandwich from earlier. Alvin eyed it and then Theodore. "You haven't eaten. And that includes lunch. Yours is still in the living room. So I thought that you…um…rested your eyes because you were hungry!"

Alvin had been giving a death glare at his little brother, daring him to say what Theodore had wanted to say. But his glare softened when Theodore avoided the word and instead, handed him the wrapped up sandwich. The bread was soggy and it didn't look so good anymore, but Alvin couldn't say that he hated the gesture. Quickly, and with a full mouth almost the entire time, Alvin brought everyone on to the same page of the plan and the four walked out of the house.

The boys were hustling a little bit. They still remembered the disaster in the library and were a little paranoid to be outside. They made it to the Miller's house and walked in quickly before the girls were even up the steps to the porch. Once inside, they looked around. Alvin turned his head and looked at Brittany, who was a little disgruntled at the boys' behavior. "Where's Ms. Miller?"

"Oh, she went on an overnight trip. We're home alone until tomorrow."

"What? You have the house to yourselves and you didn't tell me!? We do, too." Alvin whirled onto the little black rabbit. "You so _owe_ me for this, four-eyes! We could have had the most epic double house party ever tonight if it wasn't for _you_." Alvin made to poke the rabbit again before Eleanor pulled Simon away with a glare.

"Rabbits are fragile, Alvin. Quit it."

"Let's go," Brittany walked past Alvin and grabbed his shirt collar, pulling him up the stairs. He dragged him, protesting half the way, to the girls' shared bedroom and they stopped just inside the door, looking at the side of the room that was more purple and blue than anything else. It was Jeanette's side. Alvin looked over at his friend. "Anything that can help us would be here," Brittany explained.

Eleanor and Theodore had just arrived at the room when Alvin and Brittany began their search. "Brittany, Jeanette's still not home," Eleanor was watching the two in frustration. They hadn't even bothered to see if Jeanette was home yet or not, they just came right upstairs to start going through Jeanette's belongings. The little chipette had an idea as to why. Brittany had told her that she thought that Jeanette was hiding something from her, and Brittany was going to use this to dig up some gossip.

Theodore and Eleanor just played a little with Simon, Eleanor protesting a little bit every now and then when she felt that the other two were getting a little too personal with Jeanette's things. But she was dismissed every time and soon Jeanette's desk, bookshelf, cubby holes, and everything else was gone through. Alvin huffed before spying the bed. He wiggled under there and then cried out.

"Eureka!" He shuffled out from under the bed, holding a purple book with a lighter purple flower on the outside of it. "I don't know what this is, but it must be important."

Both Brittany and Eleanor gasped moving quickly to get the object from Alvin. Eleanor was the one who was quick enough to snatch it out of his hands with a cry of protest from him. "This is Jeanette's diary, Alvin. We're not going through this."

"A diary!? Perfect! What better place to find out how to fix Simon?"

As much as Brittany wanted to, she sighed and decided to side with Eleanor. "No, you never, ever look at someone else's diary. And she wouldn't keep any experiment notes in there, anyway."

"How would you know if you never looked in it?" Alvin eyed her with a mischievous grin. It might have been charming if Alvin wasn't still dirty, bruised, scrapped, cut, and now looking ridiculous with his cap cocked at a weird angle from when he was just resting his eyes. But Brittany couldn't focus on that. He was looking a little too into the search.

"I don't know. But you don't use a diary like that. You put down your secrets. We're not going to look in it."

"So how would you know if that's not how you use a diary?" Man, Alvin was a pain, sometimes. He just wouldn't drop it. "Unless…" Alvin dove under Brittany's bed and Brittany tried to look cool. She wasn't going to start to panic until she was sure that she needed to. "A-ha!"

Okay, time to panic. Alvin had just brought out a pink book very similar to Jeanette's, only with a different cover. He glanced at Brittany with his smile and made to open the cover. "Give it back, Alvin!" Brittany stormed over to get her diary back.

"Oh ho! Someone has some secrets! I bet they are very secretive. The most secretive secrets ever secreted about. Oh boy, can't wait to read me some secret secrets, I tell you what." Alvin was standing up and keeping the book out of Brittany's reach. Brittany had lost it and kept on trying to get her book back. It took only a few moments though, before Brittany wanted to change tactic and regain her cool. She was not going to appear a fool to anyone.

"Oh, fine. Go ahead. There isn't anything in there, anyway. I stopped writing in it years ago."

"Sure," Alvin slurred out, slowly and painfully opening the cover. Eleanor was just wide eyed, holding Jeanette's diary in her dropping hand. Theodore had picked up Simon in his arms once things were getting a little wilder, and Simon just watched the show in a scared little ball. "Oh, I wonder what little morsel of gossip is in here, hm?"

"I mean it, Alvin. There isn't anything in there." Brittany was trying to keep her voice level. Eleanor had dropped her arms a little bit more, just watching as the covering moved, millimeter by millimeter. Alvin tilted his head to move to read a page. The tension was high in the room. The girls remembered the last time that their diaries were read by each other, and that didn't go over too well. Now, they were at the hands of a boy. And not just any boy. Alvin.

"You're not going to get me to buy that, Britt. _August 22. I bought a new pair of_…"

"Stop it, Alvin!" Eleanor dropped Jeanette's diary and ran over to the two of them. She placed her hand on the cover to shut it. Alvin just smiled at her in his devious way. "You can not break the sacred diary oath. It's an invasion of privacy and only in matters of extreme urgency, like a missing person, can give anyone the right to look into a diary. And that's only if we're sure that the diary will give us a clue!"

"What did you do? Swallow Jeanette?" Alvin shoved the book into Eleanor's arms somewhat gently and stomped away from the two girls. They just sighed in relief. "Don't worry," the two girls looked over at Alvin, now with Jeanette's diary in his hands. "I'm sure that this will give us a clue. At least, to where the girl is. It's a missing person case, Eleanor. A matter of _urgency_."

Eleanor face-palmed and Brittany elbowed Eleanor in the side, muttering to her about keeping her mouth shut about exceptions to the rule. But Alvin was right. The diary could give them a big clue as to where the pink framed girl went to. Brittany sighed, pulled the book away from Alvin, sat on Jeanette's bed, and began to read a few entries from the last.

"What does it say?" Alvin followed Brittany and began to read over her shoulder. Eleanor sighed, and followed her own curiosity. She moved to look over Brittany's shoulder as well. Theodore just shook his head at the three, understanding the want to keep things private, no matter what, and just looked down at Simon. After a few moments, Alvin cringed. "Ugh. Geek love."

"Don't call my sister a geek, Alvin!"

"I'm just saying what we're all thinking. Listen to this. _He can be such a gentleman. He always opens the door for me, makes sure that I'm safe, enjoys listening to me, and he always helps me up. I'm actually starting to be clumsier around him on purpose, just so I can touch his hand and look him in his eyes and see his kind smile. Simon gives me so many butterflies…_as I said, love between two geeks. Geek love. Don't make me continue reading it. Hey, Si, if you ever get back to normal, you might actually be able to _be_ normal and get a date! Hooray for you!"

Nose twitch. Eye blink. Stare.

"I hate you," Alvin muttered, turning back to the book. Simon just wasn't any fun without the ability to talk. The girls were appalled that Alvin had read that out loud, and were incredulous that he let the cat out of the bag about Jeanette's little crush on Simon. Without even realizing it, Alvin had the book in his hands and was flipping through the pages until he caught something.

"I knew it! I knew that Simon wouldn't do this to himself, and I had an idea floating around in my head that it was no accident either. This was planned! And evil, insane, dastardly concoction of wicked injustice, and I will not stand for it!"

"What did you just say?" Brittany and the other two were staring at Alvin with blank faces. They couldn't believe anything of what Alvin just said, since Alvin was essentially speaking some sort of gibberish. It looked like Alvin was capable of being Simon, just a little bit, when the time was needed.

Alvin, who was expecting everyone to jump on the band wagon with him without question or explanation, rolled his eyes and shoved the diary under Brittany's nose. "Read that!" he pointed to an entry and walked away to Simon. He picked up his little brother and cuddled him, muttering about how the evil plan would never happen and that Simon would be saved. He also said something to Simon about a book report, but Brittany wasn't really paying attention. She was reading.

_Dear Diary,_

_ The weather was really nice today so I decided to go for a little walk in the park._

"Did you guys check the park while you were out?" Brittany looked up at Alvin. Alvin, looking rather content but somewhat dangerous, a very weird mixture, while holding Simon to his neck, shook his head. He replied back with her to just keep reading. Brittany sighed and did so.

_I met Simon while I was there. He looked so cute today and he seemed happy to see me too. I really hope that my affections for him are not one-sided, especially when he makes my heart race so fast whenever I'm with him. A boy had never made me feel this way before. I am truly starting to believe that I'm in love with him. I can not help but to hope that Simon would one day give me a sweet, romantic gesture. I would probably go stupid if he even showed up out of the blue with a flower for me. And, knowing Simon, if he ever did, I know it would be one of my favorite flowers. But oh, listen to me carry on. That's not what I wanted to write down._

_ I had a wonderful conversation with him. Simon had told me that he was going to start a new experiment very soon. It's a basic biological affair. I would go into specifics, but I gave him my word to keep it quiet. In return, he gave me an idea for an experiment as well. And, maybe with this experiment, I might finally get more from him instead of a little of his time. I may seem a little selfish, but the more I think about it, I really would like to try and put myself out there for him. My experiment may give me that. I just can't let him know about it. It would ruin the surprise. Plus, Brittany is always telling me to just go for what I want. I'm going to try._

Brittany put the diary down and thought about everything for a moment. She couldn't get over how much of a hopeless romantic Jeanette was, especially towards the one boy in the world that had no idea that girls even existed! She looked at Alvin, who was wearing a very expectant look. He obviously thought that she would think the same thing about this entry as he did. But she couldn't see anything about it. "Okay, so…what?"

"Britt! You're geeky sister did this to him! Surprise? Selfish? She wants more from him? She turned him into the stupid rabbit and then made a get-a-way when she heard me coming down the stairs." All three in the room just shook their heads at him. "Guys, just think about it! Put yourself in her shoes for a moment. She is, strangely, in love with Si. Si doesn't see her at all, only his precious science. She is okay with looking at him from afar, but starts to get desperate. Years go by and Simon only continues his own science, and nothing else. The desire to have the object of her affection increases," Alvin's voice was becoming dark and distant. "So she hatches a plan. A plan that would make Simon be with her forever. She works tirelessly, day and night, sometimes on the weekends, to make a tonic that would turn him into something docile, something dependent on her love and attention, and something that would make him all hers. She would turn him into something small that she can easily hide in the house. She finally does it. Then she sneaks over. Si is in a bad mood because of…reasons that have very little to do with the events of today. There is a struggle, and she over powers the weakling, getting him to drink the tonic. Just as she is about to celebrate her success and take Simon away with her, she hears me coming down the stairs and makes her get-a-way. She runs away to lay low at a friend's house and waits for the transformation to be permanent."

"Uh uh. Not likely."

"Don't shut me down, Brittany! You wait. You wait until I'm finished!"

"Don't talk to me like that!

"Shush. Okay, so she waits. Simon is scared. His only friend in the world that would ever put up with him had betrayed his trust. And now he has to rely on his awesomely wonderful brothers to save his life. And their friends. But he doesn't know how to tell them that Jeanette has done this. So he finds these papers that were dropped by Jeanette in her escape and specifically picks out Jeanette's picture, as a warning and as a guide. 'You guys have to find her and make her undo what she did', he's telling us. But we're too caught up in the whole rabbit thing to realize it. Until we stumble upon hard proof that she is a villain of the highest, weirdest caliber. Seriously, who would be that obsessed over Simon?"

"Yea, seriously? You're a nut, Alvin. A grade 'A' looney."

"Am I, Eleanor? Am I? Have you ever wanted something so much that you were willing to do anything for it?"

"Yea," she said bitterly. "Join the soccer team."

"Completely different circumstance. Guys, we have to stop Jeanette. And Simon, you are forbidden from ever dating her. She's crazy." Simon just hopped out of Theodore's arms and spread himself out on the floor on some clothes.

Brittany was shaking her head so much it was hurting. Alvin was off in his own little world and there was no stopping him. The only thing they could do what figure out how to save Simon, with or without Alvin's sanity. She glanced over at the poor furry soul, but then stood up and pointed at him angrily. "Simon, you pervert!"

All heads looked over to find Simon spread out on a pile of undergarments. Theodore's eyes went wide, Eleanor began to laugh, Brittany was angry, and Alvin jumped up and put his hands in the air. "Welcome to the club, little bro!"


	8. Chapter 8

**I just had to do that last part. Three teenage boys in the room of three teenage girls that they are close friends with…yea, there just had to be something like that thrown into the mix. And I think that Alvin had to have something to make him smile a bit. He's had a rough day. Too bad it isn't over yet.**

Time was just flying by now that there was an actual deadline. Before it was some sort of vague outline for when they needed to change Simon back, and it wasn't really set in stone. It was just to avoid Dave finding out. But now, there was no going back if they missed that deadline. At four o'clock or so, since Alvin had no way of telling exactly when Simon had changed himself, Simon would be a rabbit forever. There would be a huge change in the Seville household. And that was what the four friends were talking about.

The heads needed to come together again. Jeanette wasn't home and the only thing that they had all found out by even going over to the Miller's house was that she wasn't home. That was agreed on rather quickly. What was now up for a heated debate was Alvin's avid accusation. He was convinced that Jeanette had caused this whole thing and as he snooped a little bit more, he was even more certain of his conclusion. He had found a photo in a heart-shaped picture frame of Simon, a few more diary entries that showed that she was feeling a little defeated towards Simon, a jacket of Simon's that Alvin was told was lent to Jeanette a few days ago and she just hadn't returned it yet, and one of Simon's pens.

Actually, Alvin wasn't really sure that the pen did belong to Simon. It was a basic blue BIC pen with some teeth marks on the end of it. But when Alvin asked if that pen was Simon's, Simon nibbled on it. Yep, that settled it. That was Simon's pen and Jeanette was starting to collect a weird Simon shrine in her room. When Brittany dismissed him as being crazy, Alvin had to scoff. He stated confidently that with two sisters in the room, Jeanette could only make her weird shrine out of everyday items that no one would think twice about. But not Alvin. He knew.

Needless to say, the last hour or so was one that was not used to its potential. The girls didn't believe that Jeanette had anything to do with the rabbit thing, and Theodore was actually starting to believe in what Alvin was saying. Alvin was, after all, very persuasive. And he did have an idea to what it was like to really, really, like-like someone but not be able to say so. The more he sided with Alvin about the whole thing, the more he became a little bit shyer with Eleanor.

Alvin was on the floor, Simon plopped right in front of him. With nothing settled about his theory, Alvin had become a little bored. With one floppy ear in one hand, and the other floppy ear in the other, Alvin was wiggling them back and forth. He would gently throw one away from him and watch in land on the floor, then he would try and blindfold the poor rabbit with his own ears. Simon would try to escape, but Alvin would hold on to him again and then flop the ears around before trying to tie them in a knot. The eldest Seville had to admit that this was amusing. Especially since Simon seemed to be forced to put up with it.

"Alvin, leave Simon alone and just talk with us!"

He hummed back and then tried to tuck the ears under Simon's front paws. He moved his head back a little to look happily on his accomplishment and smile about the possible irritation he was causing. He couldn't smile too happily, though. At some point, the girls got a hold of Simon and tied a pink ribbon around his neck. They had tried to tie one of Jeanette's ribbons on him, but there was no way that Alvin would allow Jeanette to mark his brother as her property. That caused a bit of a spat between Brittany and Alvin and left Eleanor trying to patch things up. Stupid, girly rabbit.

"You really are a child, Alvin. If you can't get things your way, you just pout. But you have to face it! You have no proof about Jeanette!"

He pulled out the ears again and held them straight up above Simon's head, still humming.

Brittany and Eleanor both sighed, glancing to each other. They had just decided that they wouldn't abandoned Simon with his brothers and that they would try to clear Jeanette's name. The poor girl was now guilty of just having a crush and it was up to her sisters to show that Alvin was off his rocker about the whole situation now. "Okay. _On the off chance_ that you are right and Jeanette _turned Simon into a rabbit_ just so she can have him as a _boyfriend_, what would you want to do?"

Alvin jumped up, scaring Simon away from him, and stood in front of Brittany with a triumphant smile. He was just going to ignore the fact that he was talking to Eleanor. "Glad to hear you've seen the light. Here's what we need to do. We still got to find Jeanette. Her diary has given us a couple of other places to look."

"It's eight o'clock at night, Alvin. She wouldn't _be_ at those places anymore." Eleanor had to keep up the idea that she and Brittany believed Alvin, since Alvin was getting proactive again. And she never actually said she believed him.

"She's lying low, remember? She won't be coming home until tomorrow, after it's too late. And it's still light outside. So we've got to find her. Okay, so if we follow what we got from the diary, she could be at the park, her friend's house, or at this 'favorite place', wherever that is."

"Alvin what if she isn't at the park or Annie's house? What if she's at that place? She didn't mention where it was." Theodore now had Simon, looking at Alvin with wide eyes.

Alvin had to sigh and look away, shoving his hands into his pockets. Theodore was absolutely right. They had no idea where or what that place was. The diary had just mentioned that the place was by far her favorite and that something completely and utterly wonderful happened there. But it didn't go into any details. Brittany had actually exclaimed about it, and Eleanor had to figure that this was what Jeanette was hiding from them. And the thing was, it was mentioned in her last entry. "We'll just have to hope that she's not there."

"Why don't we just go back to your house and try to make the antidote, Alvin? Instead of wasting time looking for Jeanette, we should just be making the stupid thing!" Brittany was getting a little annoyed and she had a right to be. Alvin was being a huge thorn in her side, and no amount of his charming side was going to change it. He was downright stubborn and she was beginning to wonder how Simon and Theodore even put up with it.

Alvin shook his head slowly, showing his fatigue at having to explain everything to Brittany repeatedly. "We need Jeanette. She knows exactly what happened. Following those notes aren't going to be the quickest way."

"Yea, quick question about the notes, Sherlock. How are they Jeanette's? They are in Simon's handwriting." Eleanor crossed her arms.

Silence.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" two girls cried back at him.

"Okay, okay. Jeanette probably used Simon to help with this." Once again, Alvin's voice was becoming distant and dark. "To spend time with the nerd and to keep her motivation up, she would come over to the house to work on a project with him. She never told Simon what it was or who it was for, but she asked for his assistance. Him, being the weirdo that he was, could never turn down a chance to fiddle with chemicals. She would watch him, with wide eyes, giving him one piece of information, never the whole picture. She would smirk to herself. She probably thought, in her own sick and twisted mind, that he looked…cute…slumped over a test tube, none-the-wiser that the problem he was putting his heart and soul into was destined for…"

"Just…just stop. I get it. You have some sort of explanation for it. I'll pay you to just stop."

"How much?"

"Alvin! If you're so dead set on this, then let's get going! It's getting late." Brittany stood up in a huff, adjusting her clothing and staring at him with her ice blue eyes. This was just getting weird and things were beginning to click with her as to why Alvin was as dirty and beat up as he was. She stared at him for a moment. "Alvin, before we go, go wash up." She pointed towards the bathroom.

"Yea," Theodore nodded and Eleanor moved to him to push him out of the room. "You're starting to smell."

"And I am not going to dash all over the stupid town with a rag-a-muffin like you!"

Alvin was obeying, having to agree with everyone and kind of remembering his ordeals when he popped back into the room. "Rag-a-muffin!? Who are you calling a rag-a-muffin? I'll have you know that I am the most wanted rock star in all the world. Woman worship the ground I walk on. You should count yourself lucky that I'm even your friend." Alvin nodded with certainty before walking out of the room with his head held high. He turned back to peak back into the room. "What's a rag-a-muffin?"

He got back two glares and a wide-eyed stare and a small towel thrown in his face. He shrugged, took the little washcloth in his hand and went to the bathroom. It wasn't as if he had never been in the Miller bathroom before. It had just been a while. It just reeked of girl. There were perfumes, little bottles of cosmetics, hairbrushes, hair spray and other little bottles. He assumed most of it was Brittany's. He picked up a bottle of perfume and sprayed it liberally. It smelled pretty good.

The day was long enough and he moved to turn on the faucet when a little white bottle caught his eye. He looked at it and smiled, peaking back over his shoulder and out into the hallway. He could hear the girls and Theodore talking with each other from the other room. He looked back at the bottle. Then he glanced back over to the door again. This would really make Brittany mad. But he needed her help. One the other hand, this would be so great. Yet, she probably wouldn't want to have anything to do with Alvin for the rest of the night. And she kind of had a point. They actually got something accomplished after the girls showed up.

It was a long, inside conversation he had. He knew he shouldn't try to fight a helping hand, but he had a rough day. He glanced into the mirror to see his bruised cheek. He touched it tenderly. Scratch that, it was a very rough day. He needed something to lighten things up and that smell, now wafting around the room, just edged him on. With a nod of his head, he had decided. That bewitching woman had been too kind for too long. She was way too sympathetic with their plight. He was going for it. He'd deal with the repercussions afterwards. Besides, even if she did toss them out, they would still have all of the next morning to figure out the Simon thing with her help.

He picked up the bottle that he sprayed and with quick steps, trying to hide the smile on his face, he peaked into the girl's room. "Brittany, what's this?" He showed Brittany's perfume.

Brittany looked at him angry. "Why are you nosing around in the bathroom? Just wash your hands and face so we can get going!"

He nodded and shook the bottle out in front of him. "I know, I know. But seriously, what is this?"

Brittany sighed and put her head in her hand. "It's perfume, Alvin."

Alvin uncapped it and sprayed it again. "Ah," he said as Brittany called after him in anger at wasting her perfume. He smiled. This was going to be good. He went back into the bathroom and then grabbed another random bottle. He looked at it and nodded. He went back into the bedroom.

"Hey, what's this?" he showed the next bottle.

"Will you just get cleaned up!?" Alvin just shook the bottle at her. She sighed.

"Waterless shampoo." He nodded his head, opened the cap, and smelled it before walking back out of the room. He went and grabbed the next bottle. He thought about washing his hands at least, but that was giving in, and it was too early to give her anything that she wanted just yet. She just knew her too well.

"And this?"

"Now I'm getting annoyed!" Eleanor cried out. Theodore was just watching Alvin with curious eyes. But Alvin seemed legitimately sincere about his curiosity. Brittany glanced at the bottle.

"Apple Raspberry body spray. And before you say anything, yes, it's different from perfume."

Alvin uncapped it and sprayed it liberally again before walking out, hearing Brittany yell at him again. Her tone was getting up there. It was a mixture between annoyance and fatigue. She was almost there. She was almost to the point he needed her to be at. Just a few more visits, and he should have his results.

"Brittany?"

"It's eyeliner, Alvin! Eyeliner!"

"Ah."

He disappeared into the bathroom and reached for the next random thing. It wasn't important what he was reaching for now. At the fourth visit, he barely had to open his mouth. Brittany spat out the answer and then demanded him to just wash his hands if he was just going to goof off.

"Yo, what is…."

"Hairspray!"

This was it. She was ready. He had to think about what he was doing again as we went into the bathroom for the last time for his little prank. This was really going to get Brittany mad. But this was so much fun. And the climax was coming up. He reached for the little white bottle with a smirk, adjusted his hat, finally, and returned back into the room.

"Zit cream!"

There it was. Alvin smirked at her and she just looked at him with the most interesting angry/humiliated face. She was pinned. All that was left was the final blow. "Bottle's almost empty. You must use a lot of it."

Priceless. Simply priceless. The eruption of Mount Vesuvius was absolutely child's play compared to the eruption of Brittany Miller. In a whirlwind of screams, insults, and shoving, both boys and a rabbit quickly found themselves standing on the Miller front porch, looking at the street ahead of them. Alvin had the most satisfied smile on his face. Theodore was just plan confused. One moment they were talking about what to do with Simon, and the next Brittany went into one of her moods, there was a lot of fear, and they were standing on the porch with no chipettes. All that Theodore could manage to know was that Alvin had done it.

"Why did you do that, Alvin?"

"Hm? What did you say?" Alvin was lost in his moment and wasn't really paying attention to anything at all. He was replaying the whole thing in his mind. The way that Brittany looked, the actions that she took, how he managed to control her every emotion with every one of his actions. He could see her eyes flare with the fire that just made her Brittany. Her hair just moved so elegantly with her body as she was storming against whatever was in her path. And he just loved being in that path. It honestly felt like all of his tension left his body in one quick moment, and everything in the world was sunshine and lollipops. So he didn't really hear Theodore.

"Why did you do that to Brittany, Alvin? That was mean." Theodore hugged Simon and looked down at the bunny. "And you have the same thing at home."

Alvin sighed. His moment was gone and reality came crashing back on him. He told himself that he would deal with whatever came of it, but when he actually had to deal with it, he was now pretty sorry. He didn't actually believe that Brittany would abandon them. It was a chance, but not that much of one. And now, here they were. They had three places that Jeanette could be at, one that was completely unknown to all of them, and the other only the chipette's knew about, and Simon was still a rabbit. With a pink ribbon.

Slowly, Alvin moved forward and sat on the steps, not wanting to look at his brothers. Theodore just followed. "Theo, to tell you the truth, I knew that was a bad idea. But you have no idea how Britt makes me feel! Don't get me wrong, I like seeing her happy. She…well, she has a great smile and she is really a caring person. The more that goes on today, the more that I'm beginning to see that…I guess that I don't deserve to be with the people that I'm with. Everyone is so great and _nice_…and I'm, well, I'm not. I like knowing that I can get under her skin like that. I can get her so angry with me so easily, and, man, if you only saw what I could see when she does get mad, then you'd know exactly why I do what I do. Besides, having it and using it are two different things."

"You do use it, Alvin."

Alvin chuckled a little. "No I don't."

"Yea, you kind of do."

"Whatever. She's just to set on her looks that she flares up so easily! That makes me happy. Period."

"So you pick on her because you like her."

Alvin had to stop. Yea, he liked her. They shared a lot of things with each other. They were each other's Valentine's every year. They had plays with each other. They shared a very special kiss. But was his like really the cause of his teasing? He had to admit, all the other girls just didn't interest him like she did. And she was really the only girl out there that knew him as well as she did. And that didn't bother him.

"Yea. I guess I do." He relied quietly, looking deep.

"Kindergarteners do that."

Alvin turned his head and glared at his younger brother. "This is why I don't have heart-to-hearts with you guys. I open up and you ridicule me." Theodore just shrank back. He thought it was kind of cute that Alvin really liked Brittany, even after all the years that they knew each other and even when Brittany was frighteningly mad and the two were fighting. He also couldn't help but smile at how Alvin said about a year ago that he had no time for just one girl when he obviously always had time for Brittany.

Just then, the door opened up behind them and a still angry Brittany and a happy Eleanor came out of the house, wearing heavier jackets and holding a cord. She looked at Alvin with sharp eyes, and he just looked back at her, basking in the glow of her anger, wondering what she was going to say. "I'm not heartless and I can't stand to leave Simon in _your_ hands. So we're coming with you. But don't you dare speak to me, Seville, you got that?"

Theodore got up and went over to Eleanor. Apparently, at some point during the visit, she had done some research and found out that there were leashes for rabbits. She did a little work and was able to fashion a make-shift one for Simon. She and Theodore had concluded that Simon needed something else if they were going to take him anywhere. A shopping bag, alone, wasn't going to cut it.

Brittany just watched as Alvin seemed to put on a charming smile, feeling the warmth in his heart from her never-ending forgiveness. Even while being furious with Alvin, she still wanted to help and nothing that she said would convince him that it was just for Simon. It was for him, too. She truly was a really great friend to put up with his antics. He nodded to her, but had to put in one last thing. "Hide them with concealer, too?"

And the whole neighborhood lost its peace for a moment or two.


	9. Chapter 9

**Yea, I know where this is going and not many chapters are left to get there. But with the last two chapters, I think that Alvin has had too much of a break from his lucky streak. So I had to think…and think…and think. Finally, a little vision popped up and I know what to do and how to do it. Poor Alvin…heh heh heh**

By about eight thirty, the sun was very close to setting and dusk was beginning to descend on the entire town. The park was no exception. And despite the protests from Brittany to Theodore, since she absolutely refused to talk to Alvin at the time, the four walked a leashed rabbit into the practically deserted town property that was open to the public.

They all stood there, staring at the open fields, the walkways, the little buildings that popped up here and there, and the playground. Simon was nibbling on the grass at Eleanor's feet as the four just stood in silence, his pink ribbon and halter leash making him far more of a pet than anything had in the hours before.

"He looks ridiculous." Alvin spat out. His younger, taller, smarter, dorky brother was just getting cuter and cuter as this whole thing was going on. The red capped boy had even wanted to squeal happily when he saw Simon explore around their feet, smelling the flowers and tasting the grass, his pink ribbon flopping along with his long, floppy ears. The only thing that was missing from the cute picture was more light and fudging butterflies! Alvin bit his lip. He had to settle for the stupid fireflies lighting up little sparkles in those pale blue eyes.

Without a notice, Brittany tossed her pony tail over her shoulder and yanked Alvin by his shirt collar to a near-by building. Alvin struggled, having to walk backwards, seeing a surprised Eleanor and Theodore staring as they walked the short distance away. He tried. He tried with all his might to turn himself around at least, if not to get free of her icy grip. But it was no use. A sudden stop had him reeling to try and get his balance before he was shoved inside a concrete building that smelled…interesting and hearing Brittany tell him that he was the only one looking ridiculous.

"Just wash your stupid face, Alvin!"

Brittany shoved Alvin into the public restroom. He adjusted his shirt roughly and positioned his hat in just the right way on his head. She didn't have to be so rough with him. It was only a joke! Apparently, she was really self-conscious about the whole acne problem she had. Maybe when Simon was back to normal, Alvin could convince him of making something to help Brittany with that. Simon did owe a favor to Theodore, Eleanor, Brittany and him. Well, Theodore probably wouldn't force Simon for a favor, so maybe Alvin could have Theodore's. Alvin rubbed his hands together. He was going to make Simon do so much for the trouble that Alvin had to deal with.

"Where's that water!? I swear it, who would have thought I would have to hold your hand to make you clean up!"

"We don't have time for…"

"But we have time for pranks?"

"Well, duh."

Brittany didn't reply. Alvin turned to the rusty faucet and groaned. He hated using these restrooms. They really were pretty dirty and looked like they could use a good remodeling. But Brittany probably wasn't going to let him out of this concrete prison without at least looking more human. He sighed and turned the knob, hearing the creaking of the pipes as water flowed through them.

"Alvin?" Brittany started, outside of the bathroom and over the water. She was sounding a little less angry. "What's really going on in that head of yours? You're on an emotional roller coaster today. One minute, you're your own self, then the next your angry, paranoid, or really sad."

Alvin washed his hands quickly, scowling as he heard her. "Nothing is going on. I'm just going through a lot with Simon right now. How would you feel if Jeanette turned into a rat?"

"Ew. I hate rats."

"You know what I mean, Brittany."

She sighed. There was no way he was going to open up to her too. He already had to share a lot with his brothers today and sharing with Brittany just wasn't going to cut it. And it didn't matter that deep down, he was feeling just desperate to have everything back to normal. He wanted to be able to pick on his happy-go-lucky little butterball. He needed to hear the mad scientist argue back with him. He just had to have the diva stop being so kind. The most important thing, though, was that he wanted to break this mirror that was being held in front of him that showed him how horrible he was to everyone in his own life. If Dave somehow came into this and he had to view his treatment towards his father figure, Alvin would probably just break.

Alvin just continued to wash up and Brittany seemed to understand that he wasn't going to say anything else. Quickly, Brittany just decided to give Alvin a little room and told him that she was going to go search the other side of the park with Eleanor.

"No way!" Alvin shouted back. "You'll find Jeanette and hide her. We're sticking together, Brittany."

"Get real, Alvin. The park is big and it would take too long to search it all together. Jeanette didn't do anything to Simon and I really would like to see my little sister get a boyfriend."

"So you admit she likes Simon!"

"That was never an issue," he could seriously hear her shake her head at him. "I don't get her tastes in men, but if she likes Simon, then it would break her heart to know that he is a rabbit and would never, ever like her back like the way she likes him. I'm going to go on faith and get him back to normal so he can eventually get interested in girls and ask her out. Eleanor and I will meet you guys in the center of the park in an hour."

He heard her walk away, probably before he could start a fight with her. He was left with himself and cold water from a public park bathroom. Since he was actually doing it, he decided to go all out and clean up as much as he could. It would be a good disguise from the possible book creeps that would be stalking for the guy who may or may not have knocked over a whole bunch of shelves in a library. Allegedly.

Eventually, he felt better and he looked a little better. All the scratches, scraps, and bruises were still there, but at least he wasn't as dirty as he used to be, and that was a start. Just has he readjusted his clothing for a final time, he was ready to go and search the park in what was left of the daylight. As an afterthought, he regretted that they didn't bring flashlights with them. Jeanette could be in any crack here.

"Alvin?" Theodore's small voice echoed into the bathroom. Alvin turned around and gave Theodore a charming smile, happy to see that Theodore had waited for him. He lost his smile soon enough, though, when he saw Theodore looking small. "We have…"

"What is it, this time? Did you find her?"

Theodore shook his head. "I lost Simon."

Theodore lost Simon. Theodore. Little Theodore. In charge of being Alvin's brotherly comedic relief on their little adventure. And in charge of being in Alvin's corner at all times. Butterball Theo. He lost Simon. Simon. The genius rabbit. With a pink ribbon. Most troublesome rodent in the world. That stupid rabbit. He was being watched by Eleanor. Eleanor was on rabbit duty. He didn't leave Eleanor. But Theodore. Simon. Eleanor. Theodore. Eleanor. Something wasn't making sense.

"Um…what?"

Theodore appeared to not have expected that reaction. He gave a small, nervous chuckle, looking at the ground and then back at Alvin. He shrugged. "I lost Simon."

"Yea, that's what I thought you said. Nice try, Theodore. But _Eleanor_ is watching Simon, remember? You can't fool me." Alvin smiled happily before walking out of the bathroom with Theodore close behind him.

"No."

"No?" Alvin kept his grin and turned to look at the littlest brother.

"No, I had him."

"You?" Alvin was losing his smile.

Theodore just nodded sadly. Alvin just couldn't lose his grin any further than he had already lost it. It was there on his lips, but not in his eyes. He just looked at Theodore, waiting for Theodore to tell him that it was all a mean joke. They just looked at each other in the twilight, each one waiting for something from the other. Theodore wanted to see Alvin just lose it and Alvin was waiting for the joke to end. Both were frozen. But with Theodore's shifting feet, his shifting eyes, his fidgeting hands…the guy wouldn't stop moving!

"Will you quit that!?" Alvin pointed at his constantly moving brother.

"So, you're okay that Simon is lost?" Theodore put in, trying to keep still.

"Okay? Am I okay that Simon is lost? Am I okay that the stupid rabbit, who was supposed to be watched by Eleanor, was lost by you? Am I okay with that?" Alvin was kind of speaking in a flat tone. He was thinking as quickly as he could. His direct orders were disobeyed. That was the only way that Simon could have been lost by Theodore. "Of course I'm not okay with that! Where did he go!?"

"Well, if I knew that, then he wouldn't be lost," Theodore shot back.

"I meant, which direction did he run off to?" Alvin moved his arms around him, looking at every single direction that Simon could have escaped to. Theodore just kicked a rock at his foot solemnly. "Seriously, Theodore!?"

"I didn't mean it! I was sitting there," he pointed to a tree nearby, "waiting for you. You were taking so long! And Simon was just hopping around. I saw this bird in a tree and was just looking at it and when I looked down, Simon was…gone."

He felt absolutely sick to his stomach. He face-palmed so hard that he hurt his bruised cheek. He sank to the ground and just was ready to throw up. They were already on a time crunch and they had already wasted a lot of it. Some of that time could have been used up by him. But that was something that he didn't need to focus on. What was important now was looking for Simon before he got too lonely and died, or before something picked him off and carried him off for dinner. Or until it was way too late to do anything about changing him back. Or before he got hit by a car. Yea, Alvin was just sick.

"Are you okay?" Theodore moved over slowly, really concerned for Alvin. He didn't feel too great about losing Simon, either, but all that Theodore thought to do was to tell Alvin. His oldest brother always had a plan and he thought that this time was no different. But Alvin was looking very green.

But he pulled himself together. Alvin stood up, looked at Theodore angrily before turning on his heels and walking off into the park, practically jogging. Theodore had to actually run to keep up with him. "Okay, change of plans. We get the girls and look for Simon. _Then_ we look for the scheming Miller. You need to remember which way you saw him go, okay? Simon could _die_!"

Theodore finally really understood why Alvin was looking so upset. Yes, Theodore thought of that possibility, but they had misplaced Simon before and Simon always turned up just fine. But this time, it was obviously more urgent, and Theodore was sure that it had more to do than just Simon dying from a lonely heart. Just then, Theodore heard a hoot and his eyes grew wide. Owls ate rabbits! Maybe.

They were in the middle of the park, the lights now on as the sun was just beyond the trees. Things were getting dark and Alvin was freaking out inside. Simon had black fur. Why didn't they bring flashlights with them!? They walked past the fountain and were going to turn down a path that would probably have lead them to Eleanor and Brittany, probably. But a bunch of giggles distracted Alvin.

He glanced over to see a group of girls standing by the fountain. He was just going to ignore them, for one of the first times in his life, until he got a glimpse of something small wearing pink in the arms of one of the girls. He stopped so quickly that Theodore bumped right into him, causing Alvin to stumble a little into a light post. But Alvin was just looking at the group.

"Alvin?" Theodore questioned before following Alvin's eyes. Theodore rolled his. "We don't have time for girls."

Without missing a beat, Alvin turned his body towards the group and put on his most charming smile. He didn't recognize any of them and they looked a lot older than them. They were probably seniors in high school. But he would definitely find that out in the fall. As he got closer, he could see exactly what he expected to see. Simon was with them.

"My, my, my, what have we here?" Alvin greeted, putting on as much suave as he could. The girls stopped talking with each other and turned to see Alvin. They lost their smiles and just looked at him in a confused manner. "It's a fine night. But not as fine as you all."

The girls glanced at each other and then at the strange boy, covered in injuries. He had such an odd look on his face, something crossed between desperation and flirtation. I guess the real weirdoes only hang out at the park at night. "Get lost, creep," one of the girls shot back before the group began to walk away from him, bringing Simon with them. Theodore was following Alvin, but Alvin just motioned for Theodore to stay back. He wasn't going to be shot down. But he needed to assess the situation.

They were a group of older women. They were sophisticated, then.

They had Simon.

They thought that Alvin was creepy.

No one ever turns down Alvin Seville. He was the greatest romancer the world has ever seen.

Simon had somehow picked up a whole bunch of older women.

Something wasn't making sense again.

Alvin followed them. They were walking back the way that Alvin and Theodore had just come from. "Ladies, I couldn't help but notice that you have a very cute little bunny there."

"We found him. Now leave us alone!"

"You have such a kind heart, finding a poor lost animal and taking care of him. I can't believe how generous you are."

"Great. Go climb a tree."

"Oh, you don't understand. That rabbit is my pet. I was looking for him."

The girls stopped. They turned at looked at him with strange eyes. They didn't believe him. In an instant, they were asking why he lost his rabbit, what he was trying to do about it, and why didn't he just ask them for his pet back instead of try to hit on them. Alvin had a lie ready for it all, but it looked like he was having an off day. By the time the whole conversation was over and the girls were walking away from him angrily, they still had Simon prisoner and Alvin had taken a huge hit to his ego. For an instant, he thought that he wasn't looking forward to high school as much as he originally was if all the girls were like this.

Theodore had come up next to Alvin. The two boys just looked at each other and began to follow the girls, far behind them. Theodore just kept asking Alvin what he was going to do. But Alvin just hushed Theodore up. He was waiting for a chance. If they weren't going to give Simon back, he was going to steal him back.

"Oh, wait. I need to go to the restroom," one of the girls said. Alvin smiled. This was perfect! All girls couldn't stand not to go to the bathroom together. They went in wild packs to do whatever it was that girls did there. This would be a possible chance. And maybe Brittany wouldn't find out, ever, that he thought that.

"Hang back here, Theodore," Alvin whispered. "I'll be right back." Alvin slunk to the public restroom and the door that was right next to the room that he was in a little while ago. All the girls went in there. The only question, now, was how he was going to go about getting Simon back. He listened. The girls were talking about him. The main thing that he picked out, besides the other things that hit his ego hard, was that they thought he was negligent with animals. Losing Simon wasn't even his fault to begin with!

Alvin sighed and got down low to the ground. He had to infiltrate the unknown world of the woman's bathroom. He began to move quietly, sticking to the wall. The girls were all around the sink in the dimly lit restroom, all taking turns in the mirror. Simon was on the floor at their feet. He seemed pretty content with all the attention and didn't want to move. The stupid rabbit. Got more girls than him in one afternoon and was now basking in the glow of the fairer sex. He was so going to skin that stupid creature.

He scanned the group and Simon. The leash was still on him! And the end of it was on the floor. He shook his head. _Alvin_ was neglecting animals? At least they had a leash on him and used it. Those girls were just as bad as he was. He army crawled under the wall of the bathroom stall and, keeping his disgust as quiet as he could, he crawled past the toilet of one stall then the other one in the next stall over. The concrete floor was cold…and, even worse, it was wet. He shuddered.

But there they all were. About five pairs of legs and a rabbit in the middle of them. The end of the leash was just past on pair of those skinny legs. Man, if it was any other day, Alvin would have been glad to be in the middle of that group. They all were pretty cute girls from what he noticed. But he had to focus. He was in enemy territory and Charlie was flanking him. He had to get his comrade out of there and get to the chopper.

Man, he had to stop watching so many movies.

He reached out his hand and tried to reach for the leash. He had to keep pulling it back. The girls were talking about some sort of party coming up and were getting a little giddy about it. He would move his hand from one side to the other to avoid the onslaught of legs. Finally, he got the end of the cord and moved his hand back into the stall with it.

All he had to do now was get Simon to come to him. Alvin tapped the floor quietly and tugged on the cord. The rabbit moved a little bit with the tugs, but stayed in his spot. He didn't even seem to notice that Alvin was even calling him. Alvin tried to tug the cord again, and Simon was just nudged. Alvin sighed.

He had to give it a little more. Slowly, but surely, Alvin began to pull steadily on the cord. Simon's body moved towards Alvin, his legs dragging behind him, trying to be stubborn and not move. Under the chatter, Alvin could hear the little bunny nails grind against the floor. He had to smile to himself that he was filing down those stupid nails.

His eyes were wide as, inch by inch, Simon was being dragged slowly across the floor. At one moment, Simon hopped the opposite direction, his bunny butt facing Alvin. Alvin grunted angrily. Simon just had to be stubborn, again. It was almost as if Simon was looking for things to make everything difficult. And if it wasn't one thing, it was another. There was just no cooperation coming from that fur ball and Alvin was now completely and utterly convinced that it had nothing to do with Simon being afraid. Simon was just being inconvenient.

A girl stepped on the cord and it slipped from Alvin's hand a little with the force. Alvin pulled his hand away and hissed as quietly as he could, looking at the small rope burn forming on his palm. But as quickly as the girl stepped on the cord, she stepped off of it. A little quicker, Alvin dragged his brother towards him and his eyes were getting brighter as the whiskers and blue eyes got closer. Until Simon brushed against one of the legs.

"Aw, are you feeling okay, little guy?" One of the girls asked him. Alvin stopped moving. They were all now looking at Simon. It was getting dangerous. Please, oh please, don't notice. Please just be clichéd high school girls that are too caught up in boys to be smart. Just don't notice that the leash is taut. Luck, just be a stupid lady! "What's this?" Crap.

One of the girls knelt down and touched the leash. She looked curiously at the rabbit and then followed the leash to the other end. Her eyes were a very pretty hazel and her long black hair shined so nicely in the florescent lighting. It would have been a pleasure to flirt with her a little bit, and probably see her smile. It wasn't so much of a pleasure to see the anger and sickening look that was actually on her face.

There was nothing that Alvin could do. With a quick, charming smile and a wink, he crawled out from under the stall, grabbed his brother quickly, and bolted out the door. He could hear the girls chasing after him, calling him names that he was very familiar with after the events from earlier. But he had to ignore it, keep that stupid rabbit in his arms, and make a break for it as fast as he could.

He rounded a corner to see Theodore up the way, leaning on a lamp post and poking at the ground with his foot. Theodore looked up to see Alvin running his way with Simon in his arms. The look of delight on Theodore's face would have been something to value if Alvin wasn't concerned for his general wellbeing. "Move!" Alvin shouted. Theodore lost his smile and followed his brothers as they tore past him.

By the time that the boys reached the fountain, Alvin would have thought that the girls would have given up. But apparently, high school girls were really serious about their bathrooms. They were right on their tails and were, strangely, gaining on them. Must have been those long legs. Or they were mutant track girls. Alvin was huffing as he scanned the area that he was approaching. Brittany and Eleanor were there, sitting by the fountain and waiting. They apparently heard the commotion and they looked up to see them.

"Eleanor!" Alvin roared at the little blonde chipette. He wasn't just going to ignore the girl that started this whole thing just because he was being chased. Eleanor started, but then regained to composure. She was NOT going to let Alvin push her around. He was right in front of her, nose to nose, in an instant. Theodore just ran past them all, more worried about the high school girls than the chipettes. Alvin shoved Simon into her arms. "Let me make this clear. _You_ are on bunny patrol!"

"Guys, let's go!" Theodore screamed, running around a corner and out of sight.

"You little pervert!" a voice screamed behind him. Pressure on his back was followed by water entering his nose and his body tensing from the cold that suddenly surrounded him. He scrambled and lifted his head above the water and failed his way in the most ungraceful way imaginable across the fountain and then out of it. He soon took off after Theodore around the corner.

The chipettes looked wide-eyed at the angry group of high school girls. The girls were staring at them, trying to start something. Brittany soon settled things, and not too kindly, telling the girls to back off and go get a variety of certain troubles that are usually associated with crazy high school girls. Once those girls were gone, brown eyes looked into blue eyes. The girls decided that they had to go find Alvin and Theodore, and get the full story.

"I have a feeling," Brittany sighed shaking her head. She couldn't finish it.

"This is going to be interesting," Eleanor could.


	10. Chapter 10

**Great reviews! I really do appreciate them. It makes me want to try harder to make this story finish on a great note. And don't worry, we're almost to the end, but not just yet. I have more in store for Alvin, and the biggest blows are still coming his way. Hold on to your caps! Or something like that. Heh heh**

He checked his phone for the time for the millionth time, only to rediscover that it no longer worked anymore. The fall into the water fountain had fried it, along with making him wet, cold, and shivering. Yet he did learn something important from that whole thing that Simon made him do at the park, and that lesson was that he was still able to run, even while choking on water. Alvin was just that awesome, pure and simple.

Once the terror had passed and Alvin had actually caught up with Theodore, the boys were pretty much unbelievably lost in the park in the dark. And a cold wind was starting to blow. Both boys were tired and cold, but they were just really lost now, and that was what had them worried. But like many other times throughout the day, it just didn't make sense!

The boys had been playing in that park since they were young. They knew every nook and cranny, every crook and nanny, and any other way that they wanted to say that phrase. Plain and simple, the boys just knew that park inside and out, and even knew where the best hiding places were for hide and seek, even after years that they stopped playing the game. It was just that they didn't ever really go to the park during the night. And things looked really different at night. Especially when there was no light besides those light posts.

Granted, it did take them a little while to actually find those lamps again, after they had finally stopped their fleeing. And when they did, they didn't know where in the park they actually were. But at least it was brighter and they could stop tripping.

"Where's your cap?"

"What d'ya say?" Alvin turned his sharp blue eyes behind him at a lagging Theodore. He had to frown. The little guy was really tired. He was probably getting hungry and Alvin was pretty sure that Theodore hadn't actually run that much ever. Sheer terror can do amazing things. Strange, he never thought that he would never experience sheer terror from pretty women.

"Where's your cap? It's not on your head." Alvin reached his hand up really quickly to feel for his most prized possession. It wasn't there. Alvin stopped and looked around him at his feet and then down the path. He turned out his pockets, checked his hoodie, and then dropped his hands, his eyes getting as wide as saucers and looking straight ahead, his mouth wide open. It must have fell off during some point during the chase.

"Where is my cap?" he whispered to himself. The shock seemed to be too much for him. Theodore moved a little closer to his sopping wet brother, a little unsure of what to do to help him. That cap was always with Alvin and was what made Alvin so distinct in the crowd. Well, that cap and his signature color. And his confidence. And loud mouth. Okay, so the cap didn't make Alvin stand out all that much. But it was something extremely important to Alvin.

Theodore reached out his hand and placed it on his brother's shoulder. He quietly called out Alvin's name. Everything that Theodore was nervous about, from the dark and windy night to Simon's problem just seemed to vanish in light of the look on Alvin's face. That shock look, one that made it seem like Alvin was just completely and utterly lost, really frightened Theodore a lot. The cold and wet shoulder that Theodore could feel just made Theodore shudder violently.

In an instant, Alvin was on the ground. He felt so cold, so numb. His breathing was heavy, since he probably forgot to actually do that during his little moment. His head was thumping so hard, a little headache that was forming behind his eyes from the moment he first rested his eyes was increasing rapidly. He felt his power draining from him. The one thing that made him Alvin was that cap! That cap was what he felt most comfortable in, just as Simon felt the most comfortable in his lab and Theodore in the kitchen. His 'safe place' was that cap. And it was gone.

He crawled up a bit, feeling Theodore pulling on him a little, trying to get him up from the ground. Beyond the ringing and muffled sounds, he could make out Theodore crying out for Alvin and asking him if he was okay. Of course he wasn't! This day was just…there was nothing redeeming about this day, at all.

First, he and Simon had a fight.

Second, Simon turned himself or was turned into a stupid bunny rabbit.

He found out that Theodore didn't really trust him, just like Simon.

Then, he had to chase that bucked tooth rodent _everywhere_!

Next Simon had to make Alvin make Brittany really mad with that fake pick-up line.

Found out that Simon can die if he's alone for too long.

Simon ruined Alvin's chances with Collina Yutes! Called a 'pervert' by her.

Alvin allegedly might have knocked over a whole bunch of shelves at the library.

He ended up having to get the girls to help, because of Simon's library mishap.

They discovered they had a ticking clock to help Simon out.

Alvin was probably hit over the head by Simon, causing him to rest his eyes.

He discovered that Simon and Jeanette were in on this. Or just Jeanette. That was Si's fault, too.

Four-eyes encouraged Alvin to make Brittany mad. Again.

Simon ran away from Theodore.

He had to run away from a _bunch_ of girls that will now never date Alvin. Called a pervert. Again.

They got lost in a park they've known for _years_!

Now, Simon probably stole Alvin's cap.

Running over that brief list of grievances that developed over the last few hours, it was clear what was happening and whose fault it was. Someone was out for Alvin. Point blank. Someone just wanted to break Alvin down from everything that he ever was. It was divine justice that was raining all up in this joint and down like the rain that Alvin could now feel on his capless head. Wait, rain? Alvin turned his eyes to the sky. He could hear a rumble of thunder and feel the rain drops land heavily on him. "THIS IS ALL SIMON'S FAULT!" Alvin screeched to the sky, opening his arms up and allowing the rain to fall on him.

He splashed back down on the ground, again on his hands and knees. He growled. It was all his fault. Four-eyes. Nerd-o. Geek. Einstein. That…that…jerk! If it wasn't for Simon, then none of this would have happened. Simon wouldn't have gotten into that accident in the lab or made some weird girl turn him into a rabbit, whatever the explanation for the rodent was. And now Alvin was forced to do clean-up. No. He wasn't forced. They couldn't make him do anything he didn't want to do. He might have started to help because of guilt.

Why was he feeling guilty again? Over the vague idea that he might have been the beginning of all this with that fight? He said it to himself a couple of times already. They have had a lot worse than that. One example that easily topped them all was the fight that landed Simon in the hospital with a broken arm. But hey, that was a complete accident and Alvin was sorry for that and admitted that he might have been a little rough with the weakling. Those things happen! They were brothers. But the rabbit thing? Alvin had no. Responsibility. For. That. Period. He wasn't even there for the transformation.

"Alvin?" Theodore was looking really scared.

"I'm going home." Alvin muttered, getting up and brushing himself off.

"What? But Alvin, Simon…"

"Who cares!? I sure don't anymore. I'm done with this stupid thing. Who cares if he stays a rabbit? No one."

"Don't say that, Alvin! We both care. And we can find your cap. Don't worry about it."

"Did I say anything about the stupid cap!? No, I didn't! Don't you see? This is all just stupid. That cap is stupid. This park is stupid. This whole problem is stupid. Simon is stupid. I'm going home."

He turned to walk away. Alvin was just fuming. Things were not going his way and he just had to get home, take a long, hot shower, and go to bed. Things would work themselves out. They always managed to, anyway. What difference would it make if he put in all this effort to solve something that would solve itself anyway? It would just be wasted energy and he had other things to do. Like a book report that was due tomorrow.

Theodore just sunk to the ground, staring wide eyed at the walkway in front of him. He was stunned. Alvin, his older and mischievous brother, who he loved with all his little brother heart, had…he had given up? No, that's not Alvin. Alvin fights back, no matter how many obstacles are in his way. He was the leader for a reason. He knew what goals needed to be reached, and he was able to push them all to be able to get there. Yea, he could be a little mean in his pranks, but he only pranked those that he cared about most. He really cared about him and Simon, because…well, he always pranked them.

Was this the end of them all? One too many hits and the straw broke the camel's back? Did Theodore even use that expression right? Probably not. He needed Alvin and Simon there for him to help him sort these things out. Maybe not as much as when they were younger, but they were always there for him. Now, Simon, the steady rock that always brought them crashing back to earth, even when they were happier in outer space, was a rabbit. And Alvin, the wild child that cause mayhem gladly and stuck up for them all no matter what the fight was, had…given up.

There was nothing that Theodore could do. He didn't know what he _could_ do. He never knew that Alvin could be like this. So, Theodore had to seek comfort in the one thing that always let him feel better, when he was alone. "And he's gonna be your hero. He's the best you've ever seen. Yea, he's gonna be your hero. There's a heart in that machine." He sang softly and slowly, thinking of his two brothers. The both were his heroes, just in their own different ways. And he lost them both in one day.

Alvin had stopped. He heard Theodore loud and clear. He glanced over his shoulder. The little butterball was really feeling down. Maybe things weren't all that bad. No, they really were. This was a wretched day. But was it really that different? "Everybody needs a hero, like a dream that's very real. Cause he's made to be a hero. He's the superman of steel." Alvin sang back quietly, following the same rhythm and tempo that Theodore had started with. Both brothers just looked at each other.

"Do you remember exactly what happened when Simon turned into a heartthrob? That was probably the first time we ever had to really go searching for the guy." Alvin commented.

Theodore nodded, remembering that they boys found Simon picking up girls at the ice cream shop. "Remember when we tried to be firefighters?" The green eyes were brightening up.

"Yea, you two really should stay out of burning buildings," Alvin lightly chuckled at him. "What about the time that we broke Dave's piano?"

"I couldn't believe that we didn't get into more trouble for that! Good thing that Dave saw through _your_ lies!"

Alvin walked back over to Theodore, looking hurt. "My lies? What about when you had Simon and me theater hop to see Horrible Harold?"

Theodore laughed loudly. "That was you who made us do that. And then we thought that Dave was coming to get us!"

"At least it wasn't the babysitter!"

At this point, both boys were actually laughing. The strain was melting away from them and things just seemed to be getting better. "Man, how do we always get into those crazy situations?" Alvin had settled down next to Theodore, putting his arm around his brother's shoulder and chuckling still.

"You, Alvin. You get us into that stuff. Always have. Always will. But you always get us out of it, too, you know."

"Nah, not always. The girls really helped us out when we were racing around the world with them."

Both boys looked at each other. They really had done a lot with each other and with their own strengths, they managed to come through almost okay, most of the time. After a little while of reminiscing, the boys were just sitting in comfortable, but fairly chilly and wet, silence. It was still windy and rainy. After another while, Alvin spoke.

"What time is it?"

Theodore looked at his older brother and then dug out his phone. "Eleven. Why?"

"Call up the girls. We got to meet up with them and see what we can do about Simon."

Theodore just looked at Alvin confused. "I thought you gave up?"

"What do you take me for? A quitter!? No way. I got to have Simon back, even if it kills me. I have a book report due tomorrow, and now the only way I can get that done is if I make Simon do it for me. Oh, he's going to do it, even if I have to blackmail him for the rest of my life!"

"Oh, Alvin," the youngest just sighed. Theodore was dialing Eleanor's number and holding the phone up to his ear. "I'm sure he'll help you. He loves both of us."

"Has a funny way of showing it."

"If he's anything like me, he sees you as our hero."

Alvin just smirked at his little brother and then gave him a noogie while they waited for Eleanor to answer her phone. "What about your cap, Alvin?"

The boy was still hurting from the loss. But Theodore had managed to put things into perspective in his own little way. Alvin shrugged. "There's more to life than just…just a…a cap." Well, that was hard to say.

'Hello, Theodore! Where are you?' Eleanor's voice rang out through the receiver. It was time to get things moving again.

**I know, I know. It wasn't all that funny and it was more brotherly love than anything. Also, I used a song. I don't really like doing that. And sorry for those who thought that I over did it with Alvin. Believe me, he's unbreakable, but everyone falters once they cross that line. Up next, more hilarity! Oh, by the way, I don't own that song. It's from "Robomunk" :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Okay, here we go again. There are plans in the works for the remainder of this story. No worries, I haven't forgotten about the other story, if you read that one too. I've just decided to finish this off first. So thanks for sticking around with me! Onwards!**

It was about midnight by the time that the boys opened the door to hear the ring of the bell and the quiet noise from the other customers. A few stragglers were at the counter, huddled over their coffee or food, a gruff and frazzled looking waitress glanced up at them while pouring out another cup from the coffee pot, and a tired looking cook was making probably the daily special for the hundredth time that night, hiding behind a windowless opening in the wall. Alvin and Theodore, drenched from the rain, looked around them, a little surprised. This diner was a place they always went to during the day, but seemed really different, dark and depressing, at night.

"Guys, over here!" they could hear Eleanor. Both looked around them until they spotted the far corner booth with their two friends sitting and facing the door. Quickly, they walked over to them and slid into the other side of the table, Theodore going first. The girls had some sodas in front of them and Eleanor had a small glass of water in front of her.

It was a relief to be out of the rain and in a place that was actually warm and dry. It took a little while for the boys to make it out of the park, and they were only able to their bearings when they actually came across the Chipette's tree house. After that, it was a long trek across the entire park, since the diner that the girls were going to meet them at was in the completely opposite direction. It was a huge waste of time, but it allowed Alvin to get a better handle on mourning his loss. He could tell everyone in the world that it was just a cap, but it wasn't just a cap.

He shook his head. He had to stay focused. He had to stay frosty. There were things to do. Places to be. And a time limit. There would be nothing that would distract him. Nothing to draw off his attention. What could pull him from his task? Brittany? Ha! He could tease her any day. Girls? There would be plenty when school started back up. Theodore? Well, maybe. He did have to keep an eye on Theodore. But nothing else can distract him. He had something like eighteen hours or something to get Simon back to normal. Wait, was that right? How many hours were between midnight and four in the afternoon?

He had to figure this out. Let's see, from twelve to four, that's four hours. Okay. And midnight to noon was twelve. So twelve plus four would bring them to noon, right? Maybe? Yea, that sounds right. So sixteen. Now they had four hours after noon. So…twenty? Yea, they had plenty of time. Wait a minute…

Man, was he bad at math. That didn't make any sense. It was twenty-four hours in a day. Alvin could bet on that. Okay, so time to pull out the fingers. What was on his nail!? Oh, it's just dirt. Okay, so…yea. He's got to stay focused. Nothing can keep his attention away from his goal.

"Alvin!" Brittany knocked Alvin on his forehead.

"Ow. What!?"

"We would appreciate it if you would stay in the conversation, oh, fearless leader."

"I have been completely focused. Where have you been during this whole time? I don't see any progress made."

Brittany just rolled her eyes. Eleanor decided to draw those two out of their constant bickering by speaking up. "We're going home. Its midnight and the only other place that we can hopefully find Jeanette would be at Annie's. We're not invading her home this late at night."

Alvin's eyes grew wide. Eleanor did not just try to throw in the towel for tonight, right? "Villians know no rest. We're going." He hoped that his authority would be enough to end discussion, but was pretty sure that it would continue on.

All eyes were on him, just staring blankly. He smirked to himself and crossed his arms happily. They had actually truly decided not to argue with him! That was amazing. The quiet was something to enjoy, while they all just looked. It was interesting to watch their faces change. They would be stone faced to confused, to incredulous…and a whole bunch of other emotions that Alvin wasn't sure he really had the words to describe them. But they were silent.

"What can I get you guys?" the waitress had come over. Alvin glanced over at her and gave her a good look. Her brown hair was standing out in some places from her tied back pony tail. She had big bags under her brown eyes that might have once been happy, but were now just devoid of any humor from Alvin's soaking wet appearance. Her clothes were once clean, probably at the beginning of the shift, but were now covered in grease spots and various other stains. The poor woman, probably in her mid-twenties, really didn't look like she liked her job.

"We should probably be asking you that," Alvin replied, before getting kicked in the shin by Brittany. The waitress just sighed and rolled her eyes. Alvin could hear Theodore's stomach and felt his little brother pull on his arm. The little guy was afraid of getting tossed out without dinner. Yup, Theodore was hungry and Alvin just risked their chances of eating something before they all decided on doing anything else.

"Well, since you're so interested in that, I can tell you," the waitress rolled her eyes, which Alvin found a little bit more that rude. He was a paying customer! "I need a new co-worker who won't call in every other night so I can actually stop working double shifts and do my college homework that will eventually lead me to climbing the American corporate ladder, break through the glass ceiling, and take me away from self-satisfied, egotistical, smart-alecky, junior high Lilliputian troglodytes, who really need a dose of reality to fully mature. So what can _I_ get for _you_?"

There was silence for a moment before the girls and Theodore began to laugh. Alvin just looked at the waitress, not really understanding anything that she said, but realizing that she was really smart. Wow. And he just went and insulted her. And she shot back at him without even thinking. It felt so familiar, the pain and degradation that he just went through. Instead of arguing back, as was his instinct, he just looked at her. "Thank you," Alvin heard himself saying. "I've had a rough day and, believe it or not, that made it a whole lot better because you remind me of someone. Okay, I want a hot chocolate. But lots of whipped cream."

"Oh, oh! I want a grilled cheese with a chocolate milkshake! And," Theodore looked over at Alvin. Alvin just shrugged his shoulders. He wasn't going to tell Dave how much junk food Theodore was about to eat. "And I want a cheeseburger with curly fries, too, please." That order wasn't that bad, actually. Maybe Theodore is really trying to become just a little more fit.

The waitress had a good humored smile on as she wrote down the order. She turned to the girls. "Want anything besides your drinks, ladies?" The girls shook their heads. "Okay. It's all on me. So, no bad feelings?"

"But we just…um…what?" Alvin stuttered out.

The waitress just shrugged. "I know a bad day when I see one. And besides, a little generosity here or there can make a world of difference in people's lives. So your orders are on me. Just don't rack it up too high. Anything else?"

The boys shook their heads and the waitress left. "You never know who someone is until they say something to open up, I guess," Eleanor muttered to herself. Yea, she was right. Alvin had no idea how much trouble Simon was until this whole thing started, and he had no idea how strong Theodore could be or how kind Brittany was. Or how irresponsible Eleanor could be. His eyes grew wide.

"Where is he!?" he burst out, looking directly at Eleanor, before checking under the table, the floor, around the other customers. He was about to get up and actually start walking the place when Brittany tapped the table in front of him. Alvin looked up and followed to where Brittany was pointing.

Eleanor had her arms wrapped around her waist. She was moving around a little bit and in an instant, and little black face with whiskers popped out from the top of her zipper of her coat, twitching his nose happily at Alvin. Alvin was a little surprised to see that the girls hid Simon there, but then grew a little angry. He and Theodore were soaking wet and cold from being outside in the rain, and there was Simon, warm and dry, moasty toasty, in Eleanor's jacket. And he was happy. The sicko probably was enjoying being close to things that the boys were only just starting to take notice of that girls had. And Alvin was the pervert? "It was the only way we could come in here," Eleanor whispered, pushing the rabbit head back down into her jacket. "By the way, I can't believe you two! The little guy was so thirsty. I know you two haven't given him any water today."

"He wasn't supposed to be a rabbit for this long, you know. Anyway, so where does this Annie live, anyway?" Alvin wasn't going to let this drop. He had to stay focused, sharp, frosty, and ready. There was only a certain amount of time that was up for debate that they had left. And if Jeanette went to lay low at that girls' house, then she was obviously in on it. So the late hour had nothing to do with it. At all.

"It's past midnight, Alvin!" Brittany put in quickly.

"I just said that the time had nothing to do with it!" He got three blank stares. Maybe he thought that discussion about the time. He sighed. Just then, the waitress came back and set their food and drinks on the table. "Okay, so we're all on the same page that Jeanette did this to Simon.

"No, we're not."

"And that would mean that this girl Annie would be in on it too."

"How do you figure that?"

"So, the two devious masterminds behind this all don't deserve a good nights' sleep. I don't care if you believe me or not. I'm definitely going to go and get Jeanette to turn Simon back. Are we all in this?"

"No!" the two girls shouted, causing the commotion around them to stop and the other customers just staring at them. Theodore was a little occupied and stopped listening as soon as he got his food. He was famished and wasn't really allowed to pig out on junk food anymore. This was a rare opportunity to taste things he hadn't been able to for a very long while.

"Okay, then let's get going!"

A hushed argument soon ensued. The girls were trying, once again, to reason with Alvin that the late-night visit was a bad idea. But Alvin wasn't going to budge. Time was a-wasting and they needed to get a move on. In fact, why were they even eating right now? Well, flash forward about an hour and past a happy farewell to their new waitress friend, and the four were walking down the damp streets, the rain having ended, heading across town towards Jeanette's friends' house. Eleanor kept Simon tucked away in her jacket, but kept on dealing with Alvin's strange remarks about his brother being a worse pervert than he was.

As they turned down the street that Annie lived on, a bunch of cars were parked on the side of the road and a house up ahead seemed to be having a pretty lively party. Theodore was a little curious, Alvin brightened up and immediately wanted to go in there, and the girls inwardly groaned to themselves. They could see the way that Alvin was watching the lights and hearing the muffled thumps of the bass from the stereo. "Ha!" he exclaimed. "Looks like she's home!"

The girls exchanged looks and each shook their heads. "No, Alvin. Annie lives over there." Eleanor pointed to a house a little further down from the party. Alvin frowned and turned to look at them. Then he looked his way back up the street to where Annie lived. Then he looked at the cars and the house party.

Once again, he was at a crossroads. They had a limited amount of time to get Simon back to normal. And the day was pretty bad. He freaked out his little brother with that thing at the park, so he had to keep his resolve to just keep his head up and walk forward down the street. That was all that he had to do. Eyes forward and walk to Annie's house to get Jeanette. He was sure that she was there. He could feel it in his bones.

But what if?

Alvin stopped in his tracks and turned his head to the party. The other three beckoned to him once they noticed he was no longer following them. It was, what, one in the morning now? So, there was _some_ time just to make a quick appearance, right? It wasn't as if it would take that long to just pop in, say hi, dance a little, flirt with the girls, and _then_ go to this Annie's house. It's common knowledge that all work and no play makes Alvin a complete nut case. Well, it was well known to him.

"Nope. Nuh-huh. No way. Let's get going." He could feel himself being pulled, half choked by his hoodie. He turned, trying to pull the neck away from his throat, to see Brittany pulling him quickly down the street, past the cars and past the house that looked oh so inviting. "You wanted to harass Annie in the middle of the night, so _you're_ going to do it. Not me. Not Eleanor. And certainly not Theodore."

"Well, what about…"

"Do you honestly think that Simon could do that?"

Silence.

"C'mon, seriously, Alvin. He's a little bit of a rabbit right now."

"You're right." Alvin straightened himself up after yanking himself away from Brittany's tight grip. "They would probably just kidnap him, anyway."

The three others just rolled their eyes, and before they all knew it, they were standing at the end of the walkway that would lead right up to the dark house that was obviously Annie's. The occupants were obviously asleep or, at least, not home. Eleanor and Theodore made no noise, just looking expectantly at Alvin. Brittany was standing there, just looking at what she could see of her nails in the dimly lit street. Alvin just looked at the three.

"Get going, Alvin. We're _not_ a part of this."

"You totally are! Why are you even here if you aren't?"

"No, Alvin." Eleanor had to pipe up. "We're here for Simon. Not to wake people up in the middle of the night for a reason that we don't actually believe in." She adjusted Simon in her jacket.

"But you said that you did."

"No. We never said that. We just said it hypothetically." Alvin looked blankly at the blonde chipette. "It means in a way that could be true, but isn't."

Alvin growled angrily. "Fine," he spat. He walked up to the house boldly. It didn't matter anymore, he just wanted to get Jeanette, drag her back to his house, and make her make Simon better. He looked around the porch, not really paying attention to how nice the actual house was. It didn't matter. Firmly, he pressed his thumb on the doorbell and began to knock on the door, and kept up the noise until a light turned on somewhere near the front door.

It was time to end this.

"What is that damn racket for!?" a big, gruff, angry looking man hollered as he opened the door. Alvin's eyes went wide, looking at him. He had to be at least six feet tall, weighed two hundred pounds, and looked like he could eat nails for breakfast. His arms were jacked, bulging with muscles and a vein or two were popping out from his neck. Alvin had to admit it to himself. He was just a little bit put off from the guy. "WELL!?" the man shouted, turning his red rimmed, furious eyes at Alvin.

Alvin had to think for a moment. This must have been Annie's dad. He would have been a sub-boss in the second to last level of a video game. Alvin would have to use up at least half of his health items, use his best armor, best weapon, and all of his special moves. Okay, so first he would stun the guy with a sleeping attack, then make a few good hits with his powered up sword. That would at least cause the guy to lose half of his health. Then after taking a good hit to his own health bar, Alvin would use another stun attack, pull out a power up, and then finish the job. Yep that should take care of this boss.

"Take this!" Alvin made a quick jab to the man's stomach, but he was shocked to find that he hit hard muscle. This sub-boss was seriously built! Or he had immunity to physical attacks. Or he wasn't a boss in a video game, but Annie's body-building dad. With his hand still making contact with the guy's abs, Alvin was brought back to reality. This really wasn't a boss in a video game. This was a guy. And he just hit him. Alvin looked up and smiled innocently and gave a weak chuckle. "Haha, good joke, huh?"

Yea, that didn't go over so well, it looked like. The guy wasn't buying it. "You have ten seconds to explain yourself before I get ten years to life."

Wow. That was a threat. Alvin looked over his shoulder for help. But it looked like his so called "friends" had abandoned him to his doom. He turned to look at the behemoth in front of him. "Um…is, ah…Annie…home?"

If the guy was maybe, sort of, possible intimidating before, it was nothing like it was now. Alvin felt small as the guy seemed to puff himself up in his anger. He was probably thinking that Alvin was some sort of…ew…boyfriend to his daughter. As if Alvin would go for some girl that was his. She probably looked exactly like him. But there was no time to think of why the guy instantly got angrier. Alvin felt himself being lifted up and roughly tossed from the porch.

It wasn't as if the guy just tossed Alvin. He had to admit, that considering how angry the guy was and what Alvin had just done, the guy really did just treat Alvin pretty nicely. He was just roughly shoved/tossed off the porch. And he landed on his feet, for sure, although he landed a little funny on his ankle. It took a moment to realize he was safely off the guy's property before he turned around to look over his shoulder as the guy was climbing up his porch stairs to go back into his house. Before the guy shut the door, he screamed, "Don't come back!"

Quietly, Alvin straightened himself up and thought to himself out loud. "What just happened?"

"I can answer that," Brittany yawned, walking out from their hiding spot. "You hit Annie's dad. Oh, and by the way, the guy is a construction worker and has probably another two hours left to sleep before he has to get to work. What the heck were you thinking, Alvin? You just don't hit people like that!"

Alvin shook his head. "I don't know what I was thinking."

"Figures," Eleanor muttered loud enough for Alvin to hear.

"Let's just go home, Alvin. Maybe a little sleep will help. Jeanette's not here."

Alvin just glared at his little brother. Theodore did look tired, but there was something different about this attempt. Yea, he did hit a total stranger in the gut. And yea, he did wake the guy up and probably the whole house. Yet, there was something that he couldn't let go of. It was almost as if he knew that it was going to happen.

The three just shrugged to each other before turning. "Let's go, Alvin," they said. Alvin looked at the three of them slowly. Theodore was just tired, obviously. But Eleanor and Brittany. How was he so sure that they _weren't_ in on it? They could be spies that Jeanette gave him, to make sure that he wouldn't get close to her. And they really didn't want him here. In fact, this was the one thing that they were dead set against. Why would that be unless they were secret double agents? He couldn't trust them.

"Ah, sure. I throw it in for right now. You guys go ahead, though. I'm going to just stop over there for an hour and I'll be right behind you."

"That's not a good idea, Alvin," Eleanor scolded. It looked like Brittany agreed, but just couldn't say it. But Theodore stepped forward to Alvin and placed his hand on Alvin's shoulder. He nodded his head, smiling sweetly, reminded him to keep track of time, before turning around. Man, Theodore was a sweetie. He knew that Alvin was feeling a little stressed from the park and was willing to let Alvin cut loose in a way that would relieve a lot of stress. Alvin thanked them and they walked down the street. The girls were really skeptical, but they actually listened to Theodore.

Alvin grinned as soon as they had gone a little way away and looked back at the dark house. Jeanette was in there. He was sure of it. That guy was expecting him to show up. Jeanette must have used her feminine charms, if she had those, to make the guy join her in her sick plan. Eleanor and Brittany were in on it, protecting their little sister. Sure, Brittany said she just wanted Jeanette to be happy with a boyfriend, but she would have one either way. And with the rabbit way, she wouldn't have to listen to Simon go on and on and on and on about absolutely nothing interesting. Now that he thought about it, maybe Simon was perfect as a rabbit. But not for Alvin. The band was Alvin and the Chipmunks, not Alvin and The Butterball. And Simon seriously sucked as a rabbit.

Alvin nodded. He made up his mind. He walked around the house slowly, examining everything, until he found what he was looking for. There was an open window on the top floor right about the roof of the porch. He would go in, get Jeanette, and then they would get out before that guy even knew what had happened. If Brittany was right, then he had two hours to do it. He had plenty of time.

He started to climb with some ease up the porch pillars and railings and, in no time at all, and with only a little bit of pain from his previous injuries, he found himself on the porch roof. Slowly, he crept to the window, listened quietly, and took a deep breath. There would be no going back from this. It was one thing breaking into the Miller house. It was something completely different with a stranger's house. But he needed to get Jeanette. He needed Simon back and she was here. He just knew it! He _knew_ Jeanette, probably even better than her sisters!

He crawled into the window, finding that it was fairly easy to break the law. It kind of scared him. But he had no time to discuss morality with himself. He had to find Jeanette. He walked down the carpeted hallway, passing small, decorative tables that had various things placed on them and just glancing at the picture frames on the walls.

One caught his eye. He looked quickly at it. It looked like a family portrait and it looked like it was taken recently. Seems like the Gorilla Man could be pretty happy. Wife was definitely a looker. And was that…Annie!? He had to whistle to himself. Wait a minute. She kind of looked familiar. Maybe he did see her in school. But if he did, how could he have passed up on that! There would be no way. No, it wasn't school. Where did he see her before?

"Those kids are in so much trouble." A rough voice seemed to whisper from a door nearby. Alvin froze. The dad was awake!

"Calm down, honey. They're just having a little fun before they go to college." Mom, too.

"They can have as much fun as they want. But I'm not standing for this. I'm calling the cops."

"Don't do that. You'll ruin little Mickey's chances for Ivy League."

"Ha! He should have thought about that before throwing that stupid party."

"Just go back to bed."

There was a few more mutterings before it seemed like the guy agreed. Alvin sighed. Wow, how many weird, smart kids were in this neighborhood? That was it! He saw her at the library earlier! Oh. She saw him at the library. Well, there goes that chance. He couldn't stand to have a girl know how badly he looked. Just like with Collina.

Alvin was about to continue on, when the door across from the hall opened. He turned abruptly to see the tall guy standing with the light on behind him. The guy just looked at Alvin before slowly becoming angrier and angrier.

_Run, Alvin. Run!_

Alvin flew back down the hallway, dove out the window, rolled out onto the roof, and then jumped down quickly, without even thinking of how he was going to land. He could feel the instant pain in his leg and a warm sensation as well, as he sprinted down the street. He could hear the guy yelling after him with a loud voice. Alvin's only chance was that the guy didn't get a good look at him.

Up ahead, he could see a familiar group just strolling down the street. At the sound of running feet, they turned to see who was coming up behind him.

"Alvin! I thought you were going to…" Brittany had started. But she couldn't finish. Alvin just zoomed on by at full speed, rounding the next corner to get back home as quickly as he could.

"Brittany, you don't think that…" Theodore began to ask. He turned his eyes to Eleanor. Both girls just face palmed before taking off in a quick jog after Alvin. Theodore sighed and reluctantly followed.

As Alvin huffed, he had to finally admit it to himself. Jeanette wasn't there. And he probably was exaggerating about knowing Jeanette better than anyone. And his leg totally killed.


	12. Chapter 12

**Getting down to the wire now. Onwards!**

He really couldn't figure out what went wrong anymore. This should have been easy. No, scratch that. This should have been even simpler than that. The plan was just find Jeanette and make her help. How difficult could that be? She was just a mouse of a girl; quiet, naïve, shy, and unsociable. There were only a handful of places that she really went to, so there should have been no problem looking for her. Even if she was smart and had been the wretched criminal behind this whole thing, there weren't many places that she could hide.

Yet, that wasn't the deal. Not even close. She wasn't just one step ahead. She was a whole mile away. Every move must have been planned out for months. Her idea of right and wrong must have made her really think everything through, right down to all possible outcomes and scenarios. Premeditative in every sense of the word. And Alvin thought that he was clever in his schemes.

Clever. Right. That was something he probably lost a long time ago. That had to be right, since his own cleverness seemed to have disappeared in a matter of hours. And that realization fell on him as he laid on his back, eyes closed, and slowly waking up, on the living room floor. Or at least, that's where he thought he was. He didn't remember getting too much further than the living room after he slammed the door shut. He must have just fallen asleep there.

Whatever compelled him to sneak into that girl's house was beyond him. How could he have made the mistake in thinking that the guy was a boss in one of his RPG video games and then want to sneak into his house? He had to admit, that was pretty stupid. But he was just so sure that Jeanette was there. She had to be. The only other place that she could have been was a mystery to everyone, so all of his hopes were riding on that one location.

He felt his breath becoming a little labored as hatred began to instill itself in his chest.

He hated that he couldn't find her. He hated that her sisters were in on it, including the one friend that he thought that he understood most. He hated that Theodore was being overly protective. And, most of all, he hated that he had made a complete fool out of himself so many times already.

His chest seemed to constrict and it was still a little hard to breath. It was probably his own feelings that made him tighten up. He moved his arm across his eyes to block out the sunlight. His arm felt really heavy and sore. Yea, it was morning now and what he got from his nights' rest seemed to have made his body very sore and very rigid. It felt as if he had done circuits for his entire body for at least eight hours at the gym.

But he knew what it was. The bruise on his face. The scraps and scratches. All the running for dear life. Being pushed into a fountain. Jumping down from the second story of a house. Climbing up on things. Yea, he acted like a total fool. An ignoramus. A moron.

Why was his chest feeling so heavy!?

Alvin opened his eyes and lifted his head a little bit to see his chest. There, sitting right on top of him and staring at him in the eyes, was a black furred little devil. Simon's nose twitched a little and he stretched himself closer to Alvin's face. Alvin just stared at the little thing, inwardly groaning at the pink ribbon that was now tied below the rabbit's soft chin. Simon sniffed at Alvin and moved in a little closer.

The boy had to smile. It looked like Simon was now starting to comfort Alvin. He seemed to legitimately be concerned for Alvin, and that seemed to ease Alvin's mind just a little. Simon was Simon, and when Alvin needed the guy, or even when he didn't need him, the nerd always had some sort of pep speech prepared. And he was doing it now.

Simon looked at Alvin. And Alvin just looked back at his little brother. Then, Simon bit Alvin in the nose.

"Hey!" Alvin screamed, scaring Simon off of him. He immediately sat up, but felt his head spin and pound a little and his entire body protest at the movement. With his hands on his head, his eyes followed the bouncing ears as they raced out of the living room. "You little sack of fleas! What'd you do that for!?"

"Shut UP, Alvin!" an annoyed voice cried behind him. He turned his head to see a much disheveled Brittany glaring at him with her ice blue eyes, curled up on the arm chair. He looked to the couch to see Theodore and Eleanor snuggled up together, still asleep. It looked as if they all crashed down in the living room.

"But Simon…"

Brittany held up her hand and shuffled herself down into the chair again. She just closed her eyes. Alvin looked a little hurt and taken back. He turned his eyes to where he saw carrot breath head off to and then looked back at Brittany. He opened his mouth to protest, but then shut it. He glanced at the clock. It read ten.

Ten! Ten o'clock in the morning!? How did they sleep so late!? No wonder Simon woke him up. Time was getting close. Alvin thought for a moment before pulling out his fingers. Okay, so they had six hours left. They had six hours to find Jeanette, make the antidote, and give it to Simon. That is, if Alvin was right about Simon turning into a rabbit forever around four. Wait a minute. Was it four? He could have sworn it might have been earlier than that.

Alvin eyes grew wider. He had convinced himself that they had until four in the afternoon. But wasn't the transformation permanent after twenty-four hours? That would mean that they would have only about two hours to get him back to normal. Two hours!? Was it twenty four…or twenty eight? Whatever, it didn't matter right now.

"Wake up, guys! Wake up!" Alvin threw whatever was closest to him at Theodore. It turned out, it was his sandwich from lunch the other day. Whoops.

"Huh? What is it, Alvin?" Theodore opened his eyes, foodstuffs covering him and a piece of bread stuck to his hair, completely unaware that he had that stuff on him. Eleanor stirred as well and opened her eyes to see the other slice of bread and brown lettuce on her neck. She moved so quickly to brush off the old food that she ended up hitting Theodore's face with the back on her head.

"Ew! What…oh, sorry, Theodore." Eleanor looked back at her friend who was now holding his nose.

"No time for that guys," Alvin jumped to his feet, ignoring all the sore muscles and complaints from his bones. He even ignored his now extremely bruised and injured leg. "We got to get cracking."

"We have plenty of time, Alvin. It's only seven in the morning." Brittany mumbled out, turning to face into the couch.

Alvin chuckled skeptically and turned to check to the clock again. Yea, he was right and she was wrong. "I didn't know that the letter seven had a one and a zero in it."

"Number."

"What?"

Brittany groaned and turned to glare back at Alvin. "Seven is a number, Alvin."

"Whatever it is!" Alvin threw his hands up in the air before pointing straight at the clock. "It's ten, Brittany! Ten in the morning! We've got to get going!"

All three seemed to snap awake. "What are we going to do?" Theodore asked, a little more than just concerned. "How long do we have left?"

Alvin nodded his head and began to pace, tapping his chin. "At best, we have six hours to get this antidote. But we might have less than that. There is no way that we are smart enough to solve the 'Nerd-o's Mystery Document', so Jeanette is still our best bet. We find Jeanette, we find our antidote. So who's with me!?"

"What is the matter with you!?" Brittany started in a few moments after a small silence fell on the group. "Haven't you learned yet that Jeanette is a lost cause by now? You don't keep applying the same colored eyeliner if it doesn't go with your eyes!"

"I don't wear eyeliner, Brittany. I'm a fantastic specimen of male superiority and looks." It was a little infuriating how easy that came out of Alvin, even with his bed head, injuries, and dirty clothes. Brittany stood up and marched straight over to Alvin, her nose barely touching his.

"It was a metaphor, or simile, or whatever they call it, Alvin. We are wasting time and energy on something that we can't find. Jeanette isn't at home. She's not at Annie's. She didn't spend the night in the park, and she's NOT HIDING OUT!"

Before he could continue the argument, Brittany snapped her head around to face Eleanor and Theodore, who were slowly picking off the remains of the sandwich with disgusted faces. "We ran out of time for Jeanette. That is that. I'm taking over this thing completely, since Sir Accuses-a-lot is still running us around in circles. The fact is this: we _are_ smart. We just don't have initiative to use what we have. We would rather do what makes us happy, and that doesn't normally include school work.

"Eleanor, how many times have you created a brand new recipe that no one had ever heard of before? Well, I mean, how many times have you tweaked one and made it so good that I went off my diet? Believe me, a lot. And Theodore, you were able to figure out how to communicate with Simon after he turned really cute."

"That was me, Britt," Alvin put in.

"And I was the one to figure out that we were missing a page! We are completely smart. And," Brittany reached down and grabbed the papers on the coffee table, "we only need to follow directions."

"But how? We don't understand that," Theodore mumbled. Alvin was feeling a little concerned. Theodore was giving in to Brittany. Her pep talk was really doing a number on the natural order of their group.

"Simple. What we don't know, we google. The internet is a wonderful thing." She winked and smiled. Eleanor looked a little skeptical, but agreed. Theodore just went along with it.

Alvin just pinched the bridge of his nose. "We have six hours, Britt. Let me just go back to your house, read her diary again, and then I can…"

"No." Brittany stated firmly.

"But I won't be gone for more than a few…"

"No! We need you here, Alvin. As much as I don't want to admit it, you're kind of smart, too."

"Gee, thanks." He rolled his eyes.

"And think about it. How long do you think it takes to make up an antidote? How long have you seen Simon doing one?"

The boy was about to argue again, but then thought about it. He had seen both Jeanette and Simon work for hours down in the basement on _one_ complicated experiment. And those two knew what they were doing! He nodded his head. "And we don't know what we're doing," he mumbled.

"So it's going to take us twice as long. We need to get started, right now."

It didn't take long for Brittany to assign everyone their jobs. Alvin and Eleanor were to go down into the basement to get beakers, spoons, and various other science-y equipment that they thought they would need. They decided to set it all up in the kitchen since the lab was a wreck and Eleanor and Theodore thought that they would do better in the kitchen where they were most comfortable. Theodore didn't really listen to Brittany at first, as he scurried off to find Simon. But when he returned, with floppy ears and cotton butt in hand, she told him to start actually setting everything up on the counter.

"And while you guys do that, I _have_ to take a shower," she insisted. As she walked up the stairs, she called to Alvin to ask if she could borrow some clothes, just for the day, and for a towel. He had to relent, after a quick bickering with her. She was Brittany, and Brittany wasn't going to go without showering. She also said to be prepared to let Eleanor and Theodore and himself take one too.

The rummaging down in the basement was chaotic, to say the least. Alvin entered into the room and handed things out to Eleanor. He took glass vials, beakers, test tubes, Bunsen burners, and random other things that he found in drawers, on the tables, and in closets. Of course, he did find a huge jug of 'Hair tonic' down there as well, but decided to ignore it. He did pocket a little bottle that was labeled 'speed potion'. But everything he grabbed, he handed to Eleanor to bring up the stairs.

After things were collected, the two began to help Theodore set up the tubes, beakers, and other things in what they concluded was an organized fashion and in a way that they thought the equipment should be used in. Simon was put in what Alvin called 'Bunny Jail' and was kept underneath a clothes hamper on the kitchen table with a couple of books piled on top of it. It was then, after convincing Theodore that it was for Simon's own good, that Brittany appeared, fresh from the shower, a little annoyed about her wet hair, and wearing a red tee-shirt and a pair of jeans that were a little loose on her. Alvin had to stare. She looked good. Like, _really _good.

"What do you want, Alvin?" she snarled through clenched teeth.

"I just wanted to say something."

"Yea, ask if I fell from the ugly tree?" she walked over to Eleanor and signaled for her sister to take a shower. Eleanor gladly hopped out of the kitchen, glad to avoid whatever it was that Alvin was obviously up to.

Alvin looked hurt and gave his friend the biggest puppy dog eyes he could. "That really hurts, Brittany. I just wanted to be a good friend. Here," he said, handing Brittany a spoon and moving a little closer to her. She could see her reflection in it. "You have something on your chin," he whispered.

She looked inquisitively at her own reflection, glancing at Alvin. He was smiling a kind smile. Once he saw her looking intently at her own reflection in the spoon, he waited. She was going to do it. Man, she was just too easy! "Where?" she muttered, grabbing the handle and adjusting the spoon around to see her chin better. Theodore was looking at the two of them curiously and waiting for the tornado to start up.

"Your third one down."

Brittany pursed her lips together and looked angrily at Alvin. He was laughing, holding his stomach, and breathing hard between his laughs. Her face was always beautiful, especially when it was like that. But he didn't know she could look _that_ good until today. Sure, she was without her make-up. And yea, her hair wasn't styled to perfection. She just looked like a girl, fresh out of the shower, lounging around the house, being very angry, and wearing her boyfriends' clothes.

He stopped laughing instantly and just looked at Brittany a little stunned. Is…is that why he really liked her outfit? They were just going into high school and they've been friends forever. They always fought and argued. Yea, he told Theodore he liked Brittany, but he wasn't to the point of thinking of the girl as…well, _girlfriend_ material. At least, he thought he wasn't there yet. He stood up straight and just looked at her fuming attitude and fiery eyes. Maybe he was there. Maybe.

"Ha ha, Alvin. But if you're so interested in losing weight, why don't you drop ten pounds right now by cutting off your fat head!"

He gave her a small smile and his eyes softened. He didn't even know it. But they did soften. Yea, he was ready. Collina Yutes didn't matter anymore. Those girls from yesterday didn't matter. And that cute library mouse Annie didn't matter. And when this was all done and over with, Alvin had resolved, right then and there, that Brittany would be his focus. Of course, he still had to annoy her. Anger was one of her charms.

"Um…what are you staring at?" Brittany asked slowly. She was getting a little creeped out. He could see it in her, and knew it was because he was just…staring at her, and had been for quite a while now. Reading her was so easy most of the time. He could read just about everything from the girl.

"Your hair," he whispered, moving in a little closer, keeping his eyes soft and forming his charming smile. Maybe he could take a little tiny bit of time to flirt just a little bit with the girl. This wouldn't take long. He watched her touch her hair and look away before staring back at him annoyed, telling him to stop fooling around and just get back to work. She turned to walk away from him and to Theodore, but he reached out and gently touched her elbow. Brittany turned around and looked at him impatiently. He had a long way to go to get her attention, but she was worth it. "I really like it, Brittany." She just shook her head and asked Alvin to let go. He couldn't help it. It was just like everything else in the last few hours. Things just dawned on him. "I love what you've down with it. How do you get it to come out of your nose like that?"

He did say that he would start after the whole Simon thing was over.

The heated argument that followed almost ended with Brittany leaving the house entirely. But one look at the captive rabbit, gnawing on the plastic laundry hamper, and one look at the sad, green eyes from Theodore made Brittany cool down. She really couldn't leave Theodore alone, defenseless, against Alvin. And Jeanette really did love Simon and would be heartbroken if she found him like this. She would help. But she reminded herself to get even with Alvin later. She had a few plans in store once school started up. And, contrary to what people thought, she could be as patient as a cobra, waiting for its prey.

Eleanor returned soon after a few pages were gone through and Theodore left to take his turn. It only took him ten minutes to get back to everyone. When Alvin was asked if he would go, he declined. He had to make sure that Simon was taken care of first, and it was getting close to noon. They had to keep going. There was no time for a shower.

"Okay, next page," Eleanor muttered. Brittany was at a laptop, google opened on the screen. Alvin and Theodore were standing next to a giant mixing bowl. The team had put in four cups of flour, a handful of grass, eight cups of water, two teaspoons of cinnamon, and three cups of dirt from a houseplant. It didn't really seem like this was a very good antidote, but from what they could gather about the notes and google, they were following the steps. And the steps were in order, since Simon did help them with that. Of course, he still helped from bunny jail. They would occasionally ask him a question to which he would do some sort of action.

"I…I don't know what this is," Eleanor said, turning the paper around and then putting it back to its original position. "It looks like English homework."

"Let me see," Alvin asked, reaching across the kitchen island to take the paper from Eleanor. Sure enough, it was that English page he found in the lab earlier. Alvin shook his head as Theodore read it over his shoulder. "Yea, I thought so too. But Simon said that it was important."

"Maybe Simon's doing what that inventor guy did, and made up a top secret system or something to make people not be able to copy him."

Brittany looked up and Theodore curiously. "What?"

"Yea! Simon said once, that this guy, like, a million years ago or something, would invent things. Then he would code up the directions so that people couldn't steal from him, or something."

Alvin scoffed. "That's stupid."

"So," Eleanor furrowed her eyebrows. "It's a riddle, then! Read it out loud, Alvin. Riddles are always easier that way."

Alvin cleared his throat and started. "Okay, here it goes. 'One two one two, and through and through, the vorpal blade when snicker-snack. He left it dead, and with its head, he went gal-oom-phing back'."

"You really need to work on your reading, Alvin," Brittany replied to him in a bored tone of voice.

"You really need to work on your reading, Alvin," Alvin mocked back in his Brittany voice.

"Hold it! Just a minute, there," Eleanor waved a spoon in the air between Brittany and Alvin, breaking their eye contact. "We just need to figure out what to do. Let's go line by line, okay? The first line had some numbers in it and," Eleanor grabbed the paper back from Alvin, "some sort of sword, I guess?"

"And snickers!" Theodore happily put in. He got some looks and then felt the need to explain in a smaller voice. "A snickers snack. I got one upstairs." Theodore went to retrieve the candy.

"Well, if I know my weapons, and I do," Alvin mocked in his Simon voice, glancing at the rabbit which just hopped to the other side of the cage, clearly offended, "we need a sharp knife. And don't doubt me on that. I play a lot of different video games."

"Okay, that just leaves the numbers, right?" Brittany pondered a little. "Ha! We just add them together! So…six! We need to do something six times with a knife and a candy…bar…. I feel that we're way off."

"We're following directions."

"Maybe stir with the knife? Brownie batter needs to be stirred no more than fifty times." Eleanor smiled as she saw Theodore return with his candy. Alvin and Brittany just nodded and the team set to work, putting the candy bar, crumbling it up first, in the bowl and then stirring it with a carving knife. "Okay, next line. 'He left it dead, and with its head, he went gul-umph-ing back'."

Silence.

"What does that mean!?" Alvin exclaimed, pointing the dirty, muddy, and sharp carving knife at Simon. Simon just chewed on the prison again. "Maybe I should put your head in the mix." Dark Alvin was really coming out a lot recently.

Brittany roughly took the knife away and stood in front of Alvin. "Go downstairs and look for something that you must have missed, Alvin."

Alvin was going to just argue that she should, since she was so smart, but decided against it when he saw that it was already one forty-five in the afternoon. He ran down the stairs and looked around. He then spotted something and went over to it. He had second thoughts about doing it, but his little brother needed him. Without another thought, he took it and ran up the stairs. "Here, this was the only thing that was alive that I could kill," Alvin explained. Everyone just stared at him as he produced a peace lilly flower. "He had it growing down there, for some strange reason," he glanced at the rabbit.

"Okay, put it in the brew," Eleanor motioned to the bowl. Alvin did so. "Was there another flower down there?"

"Yea, one more. Why?"

"Go get it."

"Why!?"

"You went 'goal-oo-mphing' back to do it again!"

"Ah."

Alvin disappeared again. Theodore looked at Brittany and then Eleanor. "Guys, what does 'gel-loom-phing' mean?" The girls just shrugged their shoulders. Alvin returned with an iris and the team set to work on the next page.

By the time all the steps were completed and they were on the last page (before Jeanette's picture), the clock read three thirty. The bowl was almost overflowing with so many random things and it smelled horrible. The team had managed to chow down on snacks as they worked, but an air of uncertainty surrounded them. But there was no time to waste.

"The last step is to 'apply liberally to epidermal layer'." Alvin was a little proud of himself for pronouncing that long word. He was sure he had heard it before. But the step didn't really make sense. Brittany quickly began to type on the computer to determine what the step actually meant. She then looked up with a smile.

"We have to bath Simon in it. It goes on his skin."

They all looked over at the bunny jail, all trying to think of how they were going to get Simon to cooperate to get into that goop. But when they looked at the prison, they couldn't see Simon in it anywhere. Alvin rushed over, flipped over the whole thing with his arm, and stood, staring down at the empty space that was once the place that Simon was.

The four set off to find their run-away. Theodore kept on voicing his concern, saying that Simon wasn't really acting like Simon anymore. He seemed to have been acting more like a rabbit than ever before. This had gotten Alvin thinking frantically. Their time was running out or had already ran out. They didn't know the exact time that Simon was transformed! And it was possible that Simon could be forgetting about them and becoming more of a stupid carrot-eating, ear flopping, skip-hopping, girl getting little bunny rabbit!

Eleanor had spotted him, underneath the couch. Brittany went to get the broom and the two managed to tap Simon's butt to get him out from under his hiding spot. Alvin lunged to grab the guy, but the rabbit proved too fast for a very injured Alvin and it ran behind the piano. Eleanor and Brittany, armed with their broom, went to nudge the guy out from between the piano and the wall. But Simon wasn't going to have that. Even Theodore tried to persuade his brother to move. But nothing happened.

Alvin glanced at the living room clock. They had five minutes. "That's it! Theodore, get the slop! Eleanor, Brittany, keep him there. If we can't get him to bathe in it, we'll drench him with it!"

"Seriously Alvin!? Dave is going to kill you if you do anything to the piano!" Brittany nearly screamed, whipping herself around at Alvin.

"We have five minutes, Brittany. No, wait. We have four minutes!" Alvin pointed at the clock. "We have no choice. Theo, get the stupid goo!"

Theodore hustled into the kitchen and carefully walked back into the living room, being careful not to spill the contents. Yea, they were going to spill it on purpose, but every bit has to be used for Simon. Alvin, keeping his eye on the clock, reached for the bowl and stood on the piano bench, looking down at the furry ball of a brother. Two minutes left. He took a deep breath and said a little prayer before dumping the contents down on Simon.

In an instant, a sopping wet and muddy rabbit flew out from behind the piano and left a little bunny trail leading up the stairs. The four friends just looked at each other before nodding. It was the moment of truth. They either did it, or they didn't. And they had to go and see if the Simon they knew and…well, knew, was changed back to normal. They ascended the stairs quietly, following the trail which lead directly into the boys' room.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hope you liked the last one. Now let's find out if this antidote actually worked or not. I mean, c'mon, they all are pretty smart, right? Right! Onwards and forwards!**

Simon. Always wore a blue hoodie. Always had his glasses pushed up his nose. Never caring about his messy, dark brown hair. Tall, always looming over his brothers. Speaking in a dry tone. Almost always sarcastic. Always the smart one. The dependable one. The responsible one. The one who was so down to earth that it was actually pretty sad. The guy never really cut loose, it seemed like. Smiled in more of a smirk, than anything. Argued with big words. Mr. Polite Gentleman.

That was the Simon that Alvin was praying and hoping and wishing to see as he rounded the corner to look into their room. His eyes were down, following the trail of whatever that gunk was that they put on him. It didn't seem to change from the one little line that it was. He stopped just inside the door and followed the line with his eyes, past Theodore's bed, past his own bed, and past Simon's bed towards the bookshelves on the wall that still had a big sign that warned Alvin and Theodore not to touch Simon's stuff. Alvin's eyes grew wide.

_Just about everyone in town is in here, Alvin. Except, of course, Dave._

_Quiet, my friend. You're scaring Theodore to death._

'_Hi! I'm Alvin Seville! Maybe you've heard of me?' 'Please go away!' She has heard of you…_

_A little bird-brain told me._

_I believe it is as important for a man to share human companionship as it is for him to enjoy his work._

_Alvin, could you please stop that racket? Theodore and I need to concentrate._

_She's thinks I'm a loser. I reject. A…A… 'A nerd?' Thanks, Theodore._

_Afraid she doesn't like you, eh Alvin? _

It didn't work.

Alvin fell to his knees, ignoring the sudden pain he got from his injured leg. His arms hung limply from his shoulders. His eyes were wide and he was still. He couldn't even hear the others gasp and move behind him into the room. It didn't work.

Simon sat there, nose twitching, completely covered by the slop that they put on him. The pink ribbon was hidden and weighed down, making it seem as if there were two sets of floppy ears instead of one. The only color besides the black and brown were his pale blue eyes, just staring at Alvin sadly.

Alvin finally couldn't stand to look at his brother, anymore. He failed. He had one thing to do, and he couldn't do it. It was supposed to be a simple task. Just get Simon back to normal. He said that he would do it. He promised Simon that he could do it. He promised Theodore that everything would be alright. But it wasn't. He…he lost. He lost his cap. He lost his pride. He lost his brothers. He just lost.

Why did this happen, anyway? It was Theodore. He gave in to Brittany too easily. If he didn't do that, then they would have found Jeanette and things would have turned out differently. They obviously weren't smart enough to make up the antidote, and both Alvin and Theodore knew it. But Theodore just gave in to a pushy girl.

No, it wasn't Theodore. He is easily persuaded.

It was Brittany and Eleanor. They were double agents. They betrayed their best friends by keeping them from finding Jeanette. If they weren't constantly being kept from doing what they needed to do, then things would have been a lot easier. But no. They had no loyalty to the chipmunks. They…they had loyalty to their family.

No, it wasn't Brittany and Eleanor. He would stand next to his brothers. They stood next to her.

It was Jeanette. If she just stopped her selfish actions and simply waited or just got brave to confess to Simon, then she wouldn't have wanted to change him into a stupid animal! It wasn't that hard to ask a guy out. But no, she had to be difficult, selfish, and cruel. Planning out this whole thing. What was so great about the guy, anyway? Nothing. There was no way that a shy girl could fall in love with her shy best friend, who she shared a lot in common with, and was genuinely a sweet, caring individual who really just wanted everyone around her to be happy and content.

Okay, so maybe Jeanette was just a love sick girl. Love sick with…

Simon! It was Simon's stupid fault that Simon turned into a stupid Simon-rabbit with his stupid Simon-experiments that only Simon would do. Simon just had to go and make a stupid formula that just so happened to turn Simon into a rabbit. And he just had to go and continue to be a pain, running away, causing trouble, driving Theodore and him crazy. It was Simon who made Alvin into a complete nut case, sneaking into people's houses, hitting random guys, losing his cap, failing with girls, and getting hurt. It was that stupid glasses wearing geek brother who…

Brother. He wasn't acting like a brother, now was he?

Alvin reached out and picked up his brother gently, not caring that he was now covering himself with cold, wet stuff, and holding Simon close to him. "I'm so sorry, Simon," Alvin whispered. "I…I am. I really am." He could feel his eyes begin to water. He titled his head back and tried to keep them at bay. "It's all my fault. I did this. I…I did all of this. It's my fault."

Simon squirmed a little, and Alvin just brought him closer. He hugged Simon tightly. "I didn't mean it. You'll always be my little brother. You know I just say stuff sometimes. But I don't mean it. I…I didn't mean to say you weren't my brother, because no matter what we do to each other, you are. You've always had my back, just like you've always had Theodore's too. And I…when I needed…I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it," Alvin choked and a couple tears fell from his eyes and he closed them tight. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I'm a horrible brother. A horrible person…"

He felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked to see Brittany kneeling down next to him with the saddest eyes he had ever seen. Another hand was on his other shoulder, and he could see Theodore right next to him, crying and petting Simon. Eleanor was right behind Theodore, quietly hugging her friend and looking at Simon. Alvin quickly wiped his eyes with one of his hands, and looked away in shame. He never cried. But then again, he never lost a brother, and that's pretty much was what happened.

"Alvin, you aren't a horrible person," Brittany whispered to him. "You're actually really great. Too great for your own good, sometimes. The odds this time were just…they were just stacked too high. I know that Simon doesn't blame you."

Alvin shook his head. "You don't get it," he sniffled out bitterly. "I told him that he wasn't my brother anymore. I knew that would upset him. That's why I said it. And then…he must have gotten careless. He had an accident. It's all my fault and all because I wouldn't do my book report."

She brought his head up and made him look at her. "Do you really think that Simon thought you meant it? I do mean things to my sisters all the time, but they know that I love them dearly. And it's the same with you guys. Simon probably knows you better than anyone. He knows that you are strong, loyal, dependable when you want to be, and responsible when you need to be. He knows that you like to get into trouble, but he keeps getting you out of it because he loves you. We all know that you like to pull pranks and be, well, a jerk sometimes. But we have some great stories because of it. And you never ever give up."

Alvin glanced over at Theodore. Theodore was still crying, but looking at Alvin. The little guy nodded his head in agreement. He sniffled a little and then cleared his throat. "You want to know something that Simon told me recently? He said that if he had to spend a week on a deserted island with one person, he would chose you, Alvin. He said that it was because you would keep him going and also keep him focused."

That was a little strange, but Alvin was flattered by it. "You really do like to support us, Alvin. Everything that we do, you're right there cheering us on. Or goading us. But you make us do it. And we're better for it in the long run," Eleanor put in softly. "If Simon had anyone to count on, it would be his brothers. Both of them."

"He loves us." Theodore began to pick off some of the goop as well as he could from Simon.

"He gave me so much trouble, Theodore."

"Well," Theodore looked a little inquisitive with his teary eyes, "would you have kept going if he cooperated, or would you have forgotten about him more often?"

"I…" Alvin gave a weak smile, looking down at his brother in his arms. Alvin was sure that his attention would have been called off a lot more often if Simon didn't act up. And he probably had other reasons for misbehaving too. For example, there were some pretty nasty rumors that were probably true being said about Collina Yutes. "I love you, Simon," Alvin hugged his brother more tightly in his arms. "We'll take care of you. I promise plenty of food, hay, and water. And we will never leave you alone."

Everyone moved in for a group hug. They had to accept what had happened. They had to be strong. It was for Simon and it was for Jeanette, Dave, and Ms. Miller as well. Things were going to change drastically and it was for the best for at least some of the people involved to accept things, although not too happily.

"What are you guys doing?" a small voice seemed to stutter from behind them all. All eyes turned around to see a tall, skinny girl with brown hair in a messy bun, bright green eyes behind pink frames, and wearing a purple skirt and blue sweater. She was shifting her feet as she tried to see what they were all huddled around.

"Jeanette," Brittany spoke softly. She looked at her other sister and the Seville boys before standing up, straightening her clothing, and walking slowly over to the missing sister. "Jeanette, I'm sorry, but we have some bad news for you." Brittany had to keep her voice level. She had to deliver the information as painlessly as she could.

Jeanette tilted her head to the side, looking at Brittany with worry before turning to see her friends all watching her, their backs still turned. "Brittany, why are you wearing Alvin's clothes?"

Brittany shushed her sister. "We can get to that later. Netta, we know that you…well, that you really love Simon."

Instantly, the shy girl's cheeks went crimson and her eyes went wide. She really began to shift her weight, trying to decide if she should run or stay, and she kept looking over her shoulder. Brittany put her hand out to her sister. "Well, Simon is…How should I put this? The thing is, about Simon, well…um…" Brittany couldn't do it. She couldn't break her sister's fragile heart.

Alvin cleared his throat and stood up. It looked like he was holding something. "No easy way to say this," Alvin's voice cracked. He had dried his tears a bit, but he was still feeling the pain. "Simon turned himself into a rabbit, and it's permanent." Alvin produced the rabbit for Jeanette to see.

She squinted at the creature, adjusting her glasses a little bit. Then she gasped. "I know, it's a little shocking. We tried to make an antidote, but we were too…too late. I'm sorry."

Jeanette just stood there, staring at the rabbit. She still wore the same blank look on her face, eventually adjusting her vision on her sisters and the Seville's. Brittany was not wearing make-up and wasn't dolled up, wearing Alvin's clothes. Eleanor was pretty much the same, only in Theodore's clothing. Theodore was looking so sad with red eyes and puffy cheeks. Alvin…Alvin looked completely wrecked. He had scraps and cuts all over his body. He wasn't putting any weight on his left leg. His clothes were dirty and stretched out. And he was missing something. His cap! He was missing his cap!

"Jeanette, I can't find her," a voice called from the hallway. Brisk steps could be heard coming towards the room and in an instant, a figure was in the doorway, standing behind Jeanette. A quick glance around the room with pale blue eyes gave the person the same impression as Jeanette. But his eyes landed on the bundle in Alvin's arms.

"Alvin, what did you do to Lenore!?"

Everyone was speechless. They just stared at him, wide-eyed, and then at the sloppy rabbit. In an instant, a happy and excited voice called from behind Alvin. "Simon!" Theodore ran to his brother and gave him the biggest bear hug he ever gave anyone. Simon looked a little surprised.

Soon enough, Eleanor and Brittany were also giving Simon a hug and all three voices seemed to blend together as they asked Jeanette and Simon what they were up to and what had happened.

"We could ask you the same thing," Simon muttered, walking over to Alvin and taking the shaking creature from him. He sighed as he moved past Alvin to get a handkerchief to clean off the animal. Alvin just stared, wide-eyed, at what he couldn't believe was his little brother. "Really, Alvin, this is not how you treat timid creatures."

"Si..mon?" Alvin mustered out. Simon just seemed to grunt a reply. "Simon?" Alvin crawled out a little louder. Simon turned from his work to look at Alvin with his eyebrows raise in a questioning look but with annoyance behind his eyes. Alvin walked up to him, touched him on the arm, and then did something that really surprised both Simon and Jeanette. Alvin gave Simon the biggest hug on earth.

Simon looked down at his other brother confused and with wide eyes. He then looked at their friends. The girls were smiling sweetly, Jeanette was just as shocked, and Theodore was coming their way, and soon joining in the hug. "I know that I've been gone for a day, but I didn't think that it would warrant this type of greeting," Simon mumbled out.

Alvin pulled away with a happy grin on his face before he completely lost it. "Where in the whole wide world were you!? And what's with the stupid rabbit!?" The others in the room agreed. But they asked for an explanation and they got one. A long, dry one.

Jeanette and Simon, after realizing that they were going to be attending high school in the fall and wanting to get a head start on a really amazing science fair project, decided to try to do something involving genetics. They had went to buy a rabbit with some unique characteristics for the project, and Jeanette insisted on naming the rabbit Lenore. Afterwards, they decided to go to a pet expo, being driven there by Ms. Miller, in a town about six hours away, for a pure bred rabbit with a fairly consistent genetic strain. Thus they could, you know, try to make Lenore's feature appear in each generation or so, and that was what they decided to do. Or something like that. "Edgar is downstairs right now. So," Simon suspiciously eyed his brother, "what happened to you, and what happened to Lenore?"

Four voices quickly went through their last day. All the Simon and Jeanette could get out of it was something about Collina Yutes, a diary, a fiendish plot, a warning about going to the library, high school girls, Alvin being Alvin, and that they thought that Simon was a rabbit. Halfway through, Simon just held up his hand.

"Forget I asked." He looked at his brother and could see the state that Alvin was in. If he heard right, Alvin thought that Simon was a rabbit and had done everything possible to help him, although it really wasn't needed. It seemed like the guy didn't even really rest. Simon got closer to Alvin. "For what it's worth, Alvin, I can tell you really tried to help me. It wasn't needed. But you really did try. You're one of my favorite brothers, Alvin." Simon patted Alvin on the head, and Alvin quickly swatted the hand away. Then Simon gave Alvin a curious look. "Where's your cap?"

"Oh! I have it!" Jeanette exclaimed happily, muttering that she almost forgot, and pulling the cap out from some sort of hiding spot.

Alvin ran to it and took his quickly from her, moving it around in his hands. "Where did you find it?" he asked, looking up at her. Okay, so maybe she was an acceptable person for Simon to date.

"I saw some kids with it down the street. It looked like yours, so I asked where they got it. They didn't buy it, so I asked if I could check with a friend of mine and they gave it to me." Jeanette smiled sweetly and looked at Simon. "They were really nice children." Simon smiled back.

Alvin took a deep breath. Everything was back to normal. The gang was together again and there were no more worries. He positioned his arm and with a swift motion, tug his cap down on his head and looked at his most valuable friends from under the brim with his old, devious smile. He especially focused on his next task: Brittany.

"ALLLLLL-VIIINNNNNNN!" Dave's voice could be heard down the stairs. Alvin glanced at the door and then at his brothers. He chuckled to himself, inching away from the door.

"I forgot to mention, Si, that I might have done a lot of stupid stuff while you were gone. And it looks like Dave might have found out. So, ah, if you wouldn't mind, you know, stalling him for me."

"Maybe you should get started on that paper of yours, Alvin," Simon mumbled walking slowly to the window and looking out at flashing red and blue lights. "Houdini was a famous escape artist, and it looks like you'll need to be one to get out of whatever you did." He turned to see Alvin inching over to him, before full on opening the window and throwing out his emergency bed-sheet rope that Dave had thought he had gotten rid of.

Once out the window, Alvin was running down the street again. Everyone looked around at each other before watching Alvin race off into the distance with an angry Dave following behind him. Theodore suddenly thought of something and turned to look at Simon. "Simon, what are Jeanette's favorite flowers?"

"Peace Lillies and Irises." Simon answered nonchalantly, before going wide eyed and blushing furiously, looking down to the ground immediately. He just answered absentmindedly, not realizing that Jeanette was really close to him.

"Oh, sorry. We used those flowers in the antidote. But you can grow more for her, right?"

Simon reached up his hand, trying to feel for Theodore without looking up. Eleanor and Brittany gave each other knowing smiles. Jeanette seemed to have not heard, luckily for the shy boy. "Hush, Theodore. Just…hush," Simon managed out once he finally made contact with his brother.

Once again, they could hear Dave scream Alvin's name. Alvin, just as loudly, called back his signature answer. Everyone just shook their heads with some smiles.

Alvin will be Alvin, even with a possible criminal record.

_Epilogue: Six months later._

Theodore and Eleanor are now dating. Eleanor asked Theodore. Theodore spends a lot of time, when not with Eleanor, asking Simon awkward questions about Jeanette. On purpose. Looks like the boy is following after his eldest brother's footsteps.

Eleanor, after the events of that fateful day, has decided to start listening to Alvin less. She is really focused on being the youngest captain of the soccer team and spending a lot of time with Theodore.

Simon is still working up the courage to ask Jeanette. He had decided to toss the flower idea and is, instead, slowly writing a song to sing to her. Very slowly. About one note a day slowly. Alvin and Theodore won't stop picking on him about it.

Jeanette is still waiting patiently for Simon and has thought a couple of times to just follow Eleanor's lead and ask him instead. She had acquired two more rabbits for the experiment, Sampson and Delilah. She keeps those two at her house.

Brittany is keeping up her image, but has stopped dating boys and has just stuck to flirting with them. She had joined the cheerleading squad and is constantly being bothered by Alvin.

Alvin got out of trouble pretty quickly. A few hours of community service for knocking over the bookshelves at the library. As for his breaking and entering, charges were dropped after Simon and Jeanette talked with Annie's dad. Alvin is in the process of trying to win Brittany's heart. But it seems that old habits die hard. His most recent favorite insult? Nice tan, I love the color orange.

**So, there we have it. The end. Hope you guys liked it. If you did, I would love to hear about it, but no worries if you don't want to review. I'm not really picky. So thanks for sticking with this until the end. I hope it wasn't predictable. Well, until next time!**


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